Midday Market Overview

USD Core Durable Goods Orders m/m -1.6% 0.7% 1.2%

USD Durable Goods Orders m/m -4.3% 1.9% 3.4%

Apple set to weigh on techs; Ford lifts S&P futures

MADRID (MarketWatch) — Technology stocks were looking at early losses on Tuesday, led by Apple Inc. after disappointing results, while the rest of the market was aiming for a higher open as analysts suggested the recent selloff may be cooling down.

Well-received earnings news from Ford Motor Co., Pfizer Inc. and DuPont also helped blue-chip sentiment. Durable-goods and consumer-confidence data are on tap early.

S&P 500 has been doing better without Apple

Apple Inc.’s AAPL -7.46% share performance since the end of December has provided a cushion for the S&P 500 SPX -0.49% and the technology sector.

That may change after the iPhone maker’s ugly earnings report late Monday.

Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices, ran the numbers at MarketWatch’s request. They show that since Dec. 31, the S&P 500 has produced a negative total return of 3.61%. Take Apple out of the picture, and the negative return is 3.67%. For the S&P 500 information technology sector, the total return is minus 2.68% since Dec. 31, versus a minus 2.83% excluding Apple.

Apple shares remain down more than 6% in premarket action and have been down by more than 8% since the results.

U.S. durable-goods orders sink 4.3% in December


WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Orders for big-ticket U.S. goods sank 4.3% in December and posted the biggest drop since midsummer, largely because of fewer bookings for autos, large aircraft and military hardware, the government said Tuesday. Business investment outside of transportation and defense also softened and the increase in orders for November was trimmed. The disappointing report - economists expected a 1.8% increase in orders - could lead to a reduction in forecasts for fourth-quarter gross domestic product. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 3.3% increase in GDP, which will be released Thursday. Orders for large aircraft sank 17.5% in December and demand for autos fell 5.8%. Stripping out the volatile transportation sector, orders fell a smaller 1.6%, the Commerce Department said. Orders for core capital goods - a stand-in for business investment - fell 1.3% to mark the fourth decline in the past six months. Shipments of core capital goods, a category used to calculate GDP, dipped 0.2% in December. Core shipments have fallen in two of the past three months. Orders for November, meanwhile, were revised down to a 2.6% gain from a prior reading of a 3.4% increase.

USD Richmond Manufacturing Index 12 13 13

USD CB Consumer Confidence 80.7 78.3 78.1

End-of-day Market Overview