US Market Commentary (After Market Close): Dollar's Decline Does Little for Stocks

Despite weakness in the U.S. dollar, stocks spent nearly the entire session mired in weakness. Losses remained contained, however.

Participants showed indifference to renewed selling against the greenback, which took the Dollar Index back toward the 52-week lows that it set earlier this week. It settled with a 0.4% loss.

Though the dollar spent the entire session in the red, the broader market struggled to shake free from its own spell of weakness. Large-cap tech issues were among the primary laggards; that caused the Nasdaq to trail the other headline indices.

Financials helped lead the broader market on a late charge back toward the neutral line, though. The sector had outperformed for the entire session and was able to finish with a 0.9% gain. Its strength was rooted in banking issues. As such, the KBW Banking Index advanced 1.4%.

Zimmer Holdings (ZMH 58.03, +1.28) helped the health care sector put together a solid 0.4% gain. Shares of the medical equipment and supplies company were upgraded by analysts at UBS.

Several consumer staples stocks ripped higher late in the session amid news from Daily Telegraph that Reckitt Benckiser is close to announcing a cross-border transaction that is suspected to involve a consumer staples play. The consumer staples sector settled flat, though.

Though the dollar's drop did little for stocks, it helped prop up precious metals prices. Gold futures hit another new all-time high of $1153.40 per ounce, but settled fractionally higher at $1141.20 per ounce.

Oil prices oscillated. Bullish inventory data drove oil prices up more than 1% in midmorning trade, but it then rolled over in midafternoon trade. Crude managed to rebound and close up 0.5% at $79.52 per barrel.

The latest dose of economic data indicated that consumer prices for October increased 0.3%, which is a bit stronger than the 0.2% increase that had been widely expected. Core prices increased 0.2%, which is also bit stronger than the 0.1% monthly increase that had been widely forecast.

Housing starts for October came in at an annualized rate of 529,000, which is below the rate of 600,000 that had been widely expected. Meanwhile, building permits came in at an annualized rate of 552,000, which is a slower pace than the annualized rate of 580,000 that economists, on average, had forecast.