Market Wrap for Tuesday, February 12: Stocks Close Mixed as Apple Drags Down Nasdaq

In a quiet trading day on Wall Street, the major averages closed mixed with the Dow and S&P rising and the Nasdaq falling. The weakness in the Nasdaq was attributable to a 2.50 percent decline in Apple

. With the economic calendar sparse and overall volatility levels low, investors are primarily still focused on corporate earnings reports. In the currency markets, the Japanese yen reversed recent losses versus the greenback after comments from a G7 official.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47 points, or 0.34 percent, to 14,019. The S&P 500 added a little better than 2 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,519. The Nasdaq Composite fell around 5.50 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 3,186.

- The Treasury budget showed a surplus of $2.88 billion in January compared to a deficit of $27.4 billion in January 2012. This was above consensus expectations for a $2 billion deficit in the month.

Crude oil moved higher on Tuesday and has gotten off to a good start to begin the week. NYMEX crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, rose 0.44 percent to $97.46 late in the day. Brent futures had added 0.42 percent to $118.63. Natural gas was last trading down more than 1 percent to $3.24. Precious metals were also trading higher in the electronic session. COMEX gold futures had risen 0.15 percent on the day to $1,651.50 while silver climbed roughly 0.60 percent to $31.10. In the agricultural complex, the grains were lower across the board. Corn lost a little less than 1 percent while wheat was down a little more than 1 percent. The big mover in soft commodities was orange juice concentrate which rose more than 5 percent.

Late in the equity trading session, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Bond ETF

was down around 0.40 percent to $116.58. The move lower in bonds caused yields to move slightly higher. The yield on the 2-Year Note rose one basis point to 0.26 percent while the 5-Year yield added two basis points to 0.87 percent. The yields on the 10-Year Note and 30-Year Bond added two basis points to 1.98 percent and 3.19 percent, respectively.

The U.S. dollar was lower on the day as the Yen moved sharply higher versus the greenback after comments from a G7 official expressing concern about large moves in the Japanese currency. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF

, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, was down 0.25 percent to $21.87. The USD/JPY fell 0.84 percent on the day, reversing its recent direction. The EUR/USD pair was last up 0.31 percent to $1.3441. The Australian dollar also had a strong day, climbing 0.47 percent versus the U.S. dollar.

The VIX fell slightly on Tuesday as volatility remains subdued. The widely watched volatility index lost 1.16 percent to close at 12.79. Volume remained inordinately low on Tuesday. Only around 54 million SPDR S&P 500 ETF

shares traded hands compared to a 3-month daily average of around 134 million.

Zynga

reversed direction on Tuesday after a multi-day rally. The stock closed Tuesday's trading session down almost 11 percent. Level 3 Communications

fell nearly 14 percent after the company released disappointing Q4 results. Valspar

fell more than 7 percent after releasing its fiscal Q1 earnings results. Shares of Dun & Bradstreet

lost almost 8 percent on the day after the company missed Q4 earnings expectations. Comstock Resources

fell roughly 8 percent after releasing its Q4 results. Offshore driller Ocean Rig UDW

lost almost 8 percent on Tuesday after the company announced the upsizing of a previously announced public offering of its shares by selling shareholder DryShips

. Coca-Cola

traded almost 3 percent lower after the company's Q4 sales missed expectations. Avon Products

soared more than 20 percent on Tuesday after the company's adjusted earnings for the fourth-quarter beat analysts' expectations. Michael Kors

jumped almost 9 percent after the company reported strong third-quarter earnings. Masco

climbed better than 12 percent after the company reported a fourth-quarter loss which was less than last year.