U.S. Stocks Continue to Fall as Market Awaits Fed Decision
U.S. market indexes were lower Tuesday as investors await the FOMC’s meeting results and new projections. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17674.82 for a loss of -57.66 points or -0.33 percent. The S&P 500 was also lower, closing at 2075.32 for a loss of -3.74 points or -0.18 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 4843.55 for a loss of -4.89 points or -0.10 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was down slightly for the day at 20.62 for a loss of -0.35 points or -1.67 percent.
Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.
Tuesday’s Market Movers
The day’s leading economic report included Retail Sales which were slightly above consensus with an increase of 0.5 percent for the month compared to consensus of 0.3 percent. While above consensus, retail sales were down from the previous month’s 1.3 percent. In other reports for the day the NFIB Small Business Index was slightly higher than consensus at 93.8 versus the estimate of 93.5. The Import and Export Prices report showed import prices up 1.4 percent and export prices also higher by 1.1 percent for the month. Business inventories were down with a monthly change of 0.1 percent, below consensus of 0.2 percent and the prior month’s 0.3 percent. For the week, the 4-week Treasury auction on Tuesday reported a rate of 0.240 percent.
Stocks actively traded for the day included Bank of America Corp., Synchrony Financial, Microsoft, General Electric, Chesapeake Energy, Apple, Ford, Citigroup and Pfizer.
Stocks gaining on earnings for the day included Motorcar Parts of America Inc., up 10.84 percent, Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., up 5.92 percent, Liberty Tax, up 3.69 percent and Bob Evans Farms Inc., up 1.29 percent.
Alibaba Group and Yahoo were also higher for the day after Alibaba reported an expected 50 percent increase in volume sales by 2020 and a 50 percent increase in revenue for 2017. Alibaba was up 3.1 percent for the day. Yahoo which is a leading investor in Alibaba, reported a gain of 2.38 percent for the day.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, stocks leading gains and losses included:
Gains (percent)
General Electric 2.11
Procter & Gamble 0.92
Walt Disney 0.87
Verizon 0.8
Pfizer 0.78
Losses (percent)
American Express -4.11
Home Depot -2.03
JPMorgan -1.86
Goldman Sachs -1.66
Nike -1.58
Top sectors leading losses in the broad market included financial, materials and consumer discretionary. In technology, the Nasdaq Composite was lower at 4843.55 for a loss of -4.89 points or -0.10 percent. The Nasdaq 100 was also lower at 4422.38 for a loss of -0.38 points or -0.01 percent. Stocks leading losses in the technology sector included:
Liberty Media -7.69 percent
Discovery Communications -6.02 percent
Baidu Inc. ADR -1.66 percent
Tesla -1.34 percent
Biogen -1.08 percent
In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.10 points or 0.08 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index closed at 94.93 for a gain of 0.54 points or 0.57 percent.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 was lower at 1147.85 for a loss of -2.85 points or -0.25 percent. The S&P 600 closed at 703.90 for a loss of -0.40 points or -0.06 percent. The DJ Small-Cap Growth TSM was lower at 7019.51 for a loss of -11.67 points or -0.17 percent. The DJ Small-Cap Value TSM closed lower at 8242.95 for a loss of -45.72 points or -0.55 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index which closed at 1477.43 for a loss of -4.89 points or -0.33 percent; the Russell 3000 closing at 1223.55 for a loss of -2.56 points or -0.21 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index which closed at 595.77 for a gain of 0.41 points or 0.07 percent.
