12.09.201305:06:19UTC+00U.S. stocks advance as Obama weighs Syria options, Apple declines

U.S. stocks progressed, pushing the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a one-month high, as declining concern over a military strike versus Syria offset Apple Inc.’s largest retreat since April.

International Business Machines Corp. spiked 2.2 percent after agreeing to merchandise its customer-care outsourcing business to Synnex Corp. for $505 million. Marriott International Inc. bolstered 3.2 percent after a Chinese land developer said he wants to purchase hotel-management firms in the U.S. Apple tumbled 5.4 percent as the price of its new lower-cost iPhone disappointed analysts.

President Speaks

President Barack Obama said last night in an address from Washington that he will pursue a proposal by Russia for Syria to surrender its stockpiles of chemical weapons to international authorities. He had said he would ask Congress to authorize the use of military force against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime following a suspected chemical-weapons attack on Aug. 21 that the U.S. says killed more than 1,400 people.

Stimulus Speculation

Speculation about the stimulus has whipsawed stocks since May, when Chairman Ben S. Bernanke first indicated cuts could start this year. The S&P 500 tumbled 5.8 percent from a record high on May 21 through June 24. It rebounded 8.7 percent to close at its latest all-time high of 1,709.67 on Aug. 2. The gauge then slumped as much as 4.6 percent before the current rally brought it back to within 1.2 percent of the record and above the May 21 peak.

Volatility Gauge

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX), or VIX, dropped 4.9 percent to 13.82, the lowest in a month. The equity volatility gauge is down 19 percent in September after rallying 26 percent in August, the biggest monthly gain since May 2012.

IBM Rally

IBM climbed 2.2 percent to $190.70 for the biggest gain in the Dow. The world’s largest computer-services provider agreed to sell the unit to Synnex to focus on more profitable investments. IBM is the largest Dow component by index weight.

Hotels, Phones

Marriott International added 3.2 percent to $42.96. Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man and the owner of the country’s biggest commercial land developer, said he has hired two investment banks to buy hotel-management companies.

Verizon Communications Inc. rose 0.1 percent to $46.52. The second-biggest U.S. telephone carrier began selling today $45 billion to $49 billion of bonds, more than twice the size of Apple’s unprecedented $17 billion issue in April, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company is raising money for its $130 billion acquisition of Vodafone Group Plc’s stake in Verizon Wireless.

The S&P 500 traded yesterday above its 150-day moving average for the 200th straight session. That’s the sixth longest streak since 1980 and the longest since 2004, according to Miller Tabak & Co.’s Jonathan Krinsky.

“We are in the midst of one of the greatest and steady bull markets we have seen in recent history,” the technical analyst wrote in a note today. “Eventually it will end. Until then, however, enjoy the ride.”

The index has skyrocketed 21 percent through yesterday from the last time it traded below the trendline on Nov. 20, 2012.

In five prior instances, after crossing the 200-day mark, further gains were “rather limited” during four runs, while in the 1995-1996 streak, the S&P 500 rose another 15 percent, Krinsky wrote.