Stock Market News for Mar 15, 2011 - Market News - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Aflac (NYSE:AFL)

On Monday a host of worrying events in Japan took the markets lower. After dropping to their lowest intraday levels in six weeks, the major U.S. stock indexes rebounded late in the afternoon and markets trimmed their losses.

The market strength was as usual on the declining side, with all three benchmarks dipping lower to close in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) finished at 11,993.16, shedding 51.24 points or 0.43%. Earlier in the day, the Dow fell 147 points recording its lowest intraday level in six weeks. GE GE which has nuclear ventures with Hitachi in Japan fell more than 2% and was the most declining stock of the blue-chip index. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500) fell 0.60% to close at 1,296.39. The Nasdaq closed at 2,700.97 after dropping 0.54%. Trading volumes on the New York Stock Exchange were at 7.54 billion shares. The CBOE Volatility Index moved up 5.23% to close at 21.13.

There were no major economic releases that could sway the markets on either side. The major economic releases that are slated to release later today include February Export and Import Prices, March Empire Manufacturing, March NAHB Housing Market Index and the March FOMC Rate Decision. Last week, a survey released by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan showed US consumer sentiment has declined at the fastest rate since October 2008. Consumer sentiment index fell to 68.2 in March from 77.5 last month and was at a five month low. Consumer expectations leapt to 58.3 this month from 71.6 in February

In global news, quake ravaged and tsunami hit Japan was at the forefront of international news and weighed on the minds of investors. Japan's benchmark Nikkei plunged more than 6% amid fears of the quake affecting the country's economy. The quake has resulted in shutting down of several refineries and industrial plants in the world's third largest economy. Four explosions have occurred in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in the north-eastern part of Japan raising concerns about radiation leakage and power supply stability in the country. Stock futures fell 16% after the Japanese prime minister said radiation levels from the nuclear plant had increased further adding to the concerns about the likely economic toll caused by the disaster. In an attempt to reduce the disaster's economic impact, the Bank of Japan on Monday announced that it has additionally supplied 41 billion yen to financial institutions operating in areas which are affected by the earthquake and the tsunami.

On the mergers and acquisitions front, Berkshire Hathaway BRK agreed to buy Lubrizol LZ for $135 a share. This all cash deal is estimated at $9 billion. Shares of Lubrizol surged 27.7% and closed at $134.68.

On the sectoral front, solar stocks gained on concerns raised on the use of nuclear power as a no-carbon fuel alternative due to the incident in Japan. LDK Solar LDK gained 8.8%, First Solar FSLR rose 5.1% and JA Solar JASO jumped 6.0%. Energy stocks gained slightly with U.S. light sweet crude trading above $100 per barrel. The gainers in the sector included Exxon Mobil XOM, Tesoro. TSO, Western Refining WNR and Frontier Oil FTO, which gained 0.32, 6.0, 4.51% and 2.1%, respectively.

Coming to individual stocks that dipped, US insurers such as Aflac AFL and Hartford Financials HIG shed 3.0% and 2.8% respectively. Both the companies have heavy exposure in Japan. Luxury goods makers such as Coach COH and Tiffany TIF both plunged more than 5% due to their dependency on Japan for sales. Shares of Apple AAPL closed 0.45% higher after analysts estimated the tech giant sold approximately 1 million of the newly launched iPad 2 during its debut weekend.

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