Equities Roundup: Paring All-Time Highs Ahead Year-End

Stocks are mildly lower, S&P eminis extending session lows in the last few minutes after revisiting late Wednesday's all-time high of 4841.50 overnight. No specific headline driver, decent sell-program noted (1,200 names) on the move as paper squares up ahead the extended year-end holiday weekend.

At the moment: S&P E-Mini futures are down 13.75 points (-0.28%) at 4817.25, Nasdaq down 83.8 points (-0.6%) at 15008.58, DJIA down 24.61 points (-0.07%) at 37680.01.

Laggers: Real Estate and Communication Services sectors underperformed, real estate investment trusts, particularly retail and residential REITs weighing on the former: Equity Residential -1.52%, Essex Property -1.24%, Federal Realty -1.28%. Media and Entertainment shares weight on the Communication Services sector: Warner Bros -2.65%, Paramount -1.75%, Netflix -1.15%.

Leading gainers: Health Care and Consumer Staples outperformed in late morning trade, equipment and services names buoyed the former: Boston Scientific +3.55%, McKesson +1.22%, Molina Healthcare +0.91%. Meanwhile, Consumer Staples supported by household/personal products names: Procter & Gamble +0.65%, Church & Dwight +0.5%, Kimberly-Clark +0.45%.

Technicals: A bullish theme in S&P e-minis remains intact and this week’s fresh trend highs reinforce current conditions. The move higher confirms once again a resumption of the uptrend that started Oct 27. The contract has also recently cleared resistance at 4738.50, the Jul 27 high, reinforcing current positive trend conditions. Sights are on 4854.75 next, a Fibonacci projection. On the downside, initial firm support lies at 4736.37, the 20-day EMA.