U.S. stock indexes sagged to small losses late Thursday afternoon after spending the morning in positive territory.
The Nasdaq sanded off 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average brushed aside less than 0.1% each. The small cap Russell 2000 underperformed, chopping off 0.3%. Volume in the stock market today was down narrowly on both major exchanges.
Blue chips were almost evenly split between winners and losers. Caterpillar (CAT), a Dow stock, dumped about 2% in brisk volume. The stock closed under its 50-day line Wednesday and failed to retake it Thursday afternoon.
Caterpillar hadn't closed under the 50-day line since February. The stock was up 19% year-to-date on April 19, but now is up only 7% so far this year. The shorts have apparently moved against the stock. Days in volume short was 8.0 as of April 15, according to William O'Neil + Co. data. That translated to roughly 48 million shares sold short out of the stock's float of 578 million shares.
Bloomberg News reported Thursday that hedge fund operator David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital is one of those shorting Caterpillar.
Are Funds Selling Caterpillar? Check Change In Funds Owning The Stock at Stock Checkup
In the S&P 500, the day's biggest winner was Allstate (ALL), which rose 3% in twice its usual volume. Allstate recently reported quarterly results, which topped estimates on earnings but only matched views on revenue.
Top-rated stocks were mostly up, but some losers were hit hard. Three stocks in the IBD 50 fell 3% or more: Five Below (FIVE), Paycom Software (PAYC) and Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM). Sprouts reported a 20% jump in Q1 earnings per share, above views but a slowdown from 50% growth in Q4 last year. Sales rose 16%, also decelerating from a 27% rise in Q4 and the smallest year-over-year increase in at least 19 quarters.
