Financials Lead U.S. Markets Higher Still

Stocks were mixed Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Index giving in to late selling pressure while the S&P 500 inched higher to set yet another all-time record. Financial stocks helped pace Friday's advance, climbing about 1.0% as a group, while defensive sectors like utilities and healthcare stocks finished with losses. There were no economic reports to influence market direction and just a handful of S&P 500 components -- Tyson Foods and Sysco Corp -- reporting financial results, both weighing on the consumer staples sector after turning in disappointing earnings and sales. Commodities were mixed.

The S&P 500 climbed slowly throughout much of the session, topping out with a point and a half advance with about 90 minutes left in the session after a choppy morning. Financial stocks contributed the most to Friday's gains, rising about 1% as a group, closely followed by rises for shares of energy and industrial companies.

Shares of consumer staple companies retreated, weighed down by disappointing earnings by Tyson Foods (TSN) and Sysco Corp. (SYY). TSN slid nearly 4% after posting Q1 adjusted EPS of $0.36, down from $0.44 per share during the same quarter last year and trailing analyst projections by $0.09 per share.

SYY also fell about 1% Friday after reporting after reporting fiscal Q3 per-share earnings of $0.40 per share, down from a $0.44 per share gain in the year-ago quarter and trailing analyst forecasts looking for a $0.49 per share profit. Net sales climbed 4.0% over the same quarter last year to $10.9 bln, lagging the Capital IQ consensus call by around $600 mln.

Overall, Of the 404 companies in the S&P 500 that reported results so far this quarter, 72% have reported a per-share profit beating the consensus estimate, according to a FactSet analysis. Revenue is another story, however, with the FactSet data showing 53% of the companies have trailed the analyst consensus.

For the 25 Dow companies, reported results through May 2, Q1 sales are down 1.6% from the same quarter last year -- sliding to $562.2 bln in the latest quarter from $571.5 billion reported by the same companies last year.

Commodities were mixed. Crude oil for June delivery settled 55 cents higher at $96.16 per barrel. June natural gas was down 3 cents to $4.01 per 1 mln BTU. June gold climbed $3.80 to finish at $1,468.10 per share while July silver fell 6 cents to $23.94 per ounce. July copper lost 4 cents, ending at 3.31 per pound.

Here's Where The U.S. Markets Stood At Day's End

• Dow Jones Industrials down 5.07 (-0.03%) to 14,968.89
• S&P 500 up 3.08 (+0.19%) to 1,617.50
• Nasdaq Composite up 14.34 (+0.42%) to 3,392.97

• Hang Seng Index down 1.73%.
• Shanghai China Composite Index up 1.53%.
• FTSE 100 closed.

• (+) MBI, The bond insurer reaches a settlement in its long-running legal dispute with Bank of America Corp (BAC), receiving around $1.6 bln in cash, according to several news outlets.
• (+) PHIIK, Helicopter transportation company serving the oil and gas industry reports Q1 earnings of $0.57 per share, up from $0.14 during the same quarter last year. Revenue climbed 36.9% year over year to $178.96 mln.
• (+) ABFS, Reaches tentative agreement on a five-year labor contract with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

• (-) PAL Reports Q1 net loss of $0.02 per share, $0.01 wider than last year's loss, Revenue rose 13.2% year over year to 47.1 mln.
• (-) LINE, Barron's article this weekend calls the stock overpriced and suggests the partnership's units may be worth less than half of their current price. Affiliate Linn Co LLC (LNCO) and $2.9-bln acquisition target Berry Petroleum Co. (BRY) also ended sharply lower.
• (-) DRAD, Reports a Q1 adjusted net loss of $0.07 per share, unchanged from the same quarter last year. Revenue declined 13.0% year over year to $11.5 mln. No analyst estimates were available for comparison.