MarketView for March 12

Summary

The S&P 500 ended the day lower on Tuesday, breaking a seven-session string of gains as investors pulled back from technology and financials. At the same time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a small gain to finish at another all-time closing high. The Dow also hit another lifetime intraday high, while the S&P 500 remains within reach of its all-time closing high of 1,565.15, set on October 9, 2007.

The market's rally in recent months has driven the Dow up 10.3 percent for the year and lifted the S&P 500 by 8.9 percent for 2013 so far. Signs of improvement in the economy and the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing have helped to propel the advance. Tech shares, which have lagged the rally, pulled indexes lower as heavyweights such as Apple and Google dropped in price. Financials also underperformed the broader market on Tuesday,.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up just 2.77 points, or 0.02 percent, to 14,450, another record close. Earlier, the Dow climbed to a lifetime intraday high of 14,478.80. The S&P 500 Index fell 3.74 points, or 0.24 percent, to finish at 1,552 - about 13 points below its record closing high. The Nasdaq was down 10.55 points, or 0.32 percent, to close at 3,242.

Apple ended the day down 2.2 percent to $428.43. An analyst said the company has a 25 percent chance of missing its quarterly revenue forecast as iPhone sales slow. At the same time, Google ended the day down 0.9 percent to close at $827.61.

After a light economic calendar the last couple of days, investors will turn their attention to retail sales data on Wednesday to get a sense of how consumers are faring. Sales are expected to have increased 0.5 percent in February.

Pullbacks during the rally so far this year have not been too deep as investors look for a good place to buy. Market moves have often been muted in recent days, even as stocks have ground higher.

Traditionally considered a defensive bet, the healthcare sector has been one of the leaders of the rally so far this year. It has gained 12.2 percent since December 31. In the short term, however, healthcare appears to be overbought, suggesting investors may start to put their money elsewhere or take profits. Based on the relative strength index, healthcare has been overbought since the beginning of the month.

Among the day's gainers, J.C. Penney rose 4 percent to $15.65 amid talk that the department store chain's chief executive, Ron Johnson, might step down soon. A company representative, however, said there was no basis to market rumors that circulated Tuesday that Johnson might resign.

Merck gained 3.2 percent to $45.04 after the pharmaceutical company said an outside board had allowed it to continue a trial assessing its Vytorin cholesterol drug.

Volume was below average, with roughly 5.82 billion shares changing hands on the three major equity exchanges when compared with the 2012 average daily closing volume of about 6.45 billion shares.

Small Increase in Job Openings

A bounce back in vacant retail positions lifted the number of available jobs in January, but the overall tone continued to point to only a moderate improvement in the labor market. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased to a seasonally adjusted 3.7 million openings in January from 3.6 million in December, the Labor Department reported in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey on Tuesday.

Retail sector job openings increased by 34,000 in January after declining the prior month. Job openings in manufacturing and construction rose modestly. In addition, there was also a small increase in government job openings. Vacancies declined in education and health services, and leisure and hospitality.