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Disappointing economic data ends win streak, but volumes remain light. The Dow ($INDU) lost 11.11 points to a level of 10,426.31. The S&P 500 ($SPX) fell 0.52 points to 1,109.80. The Nasdaq ($COMPQ) gave up 10.64 points to 2,193.14. Volume was light once again with the NYSE trading 1.06 billion shares and the Naz turning over 2.01 billion shares. Market breadth was negative by a 14-to-17 and 11-to-17 margin on the Big Board and Naz respectively.

Economic news was a big part of Wednesday's trading with data on consumer prices and housing starts released this morning. Tech stocks were a drag on the overall market, although AMD (AMD) saw solid gains on the session. Software stocks Salesforce.com (CRM) and Autodesk (ADSK) both took hits Wednesday following their respective earnings reports.

Consumer prices rose 0.3 percent overall in October and 0.2 percent at the core. Both readings were a tenth above expectations, though year on year results remain constrained. The headline CPI is down 0.2 percent this past year with the core rate up 1.7 percent. On Tuesday, producer prices were released, showing little concerns about pricing pressures.

Housing seemed to be showing improvement in previous months, but this was offset Wednesday with the release of the housing starts report for October. Housing starts fell 10.6 percent to an annualized rate of 0.529 million units from 0.592 million in September. Economists were looking for a reading of 0.600 million units. Multifamily starts were the main culprit, down 34.6 percent, but single family units also fell, off 6.8 percent. The hope is that the decision by Congress to extend the first time home buyer credit will boost sales in the months to come.

Shares of ADSK fell 10.37 percent to $24.20 Wednesday after the engineering software maker reported disappointing earnings. ADSK beat earnings estimates for the quarter by 4-cents a share, but traders were concerned about the company's outlook. For the fourth-quarter, the company sees earnings between 19-cents and 24-cents with analysts expecting 25-cents.

CRM shares also declined today, losing 3.05 percent to a price of $63.61. However, the company reported in line earnings for the quarter and raised its guidance for the fourth-quarter. CRM shares did come off their intraday lows and have gained nearly 150 percent in the past year.

Semiconductor maker AMD saw its shares rise 10.57 percent to a price of $7.32 Wednesday. The stock hit a new 52-week high after announcing a $500 million debt offering. In the past year, this chip maker is up more than 190 percent. Competitor Intel (INTC) saw its shares drop one percent with the Semiconductor HOLDRs (SMH) also losing nearly one percent.

Jody Osborne
Senior Writer & Options Strategist
Optionetics.com ~ Your Options Education Site

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