S&P 500 Stocks Lead Gains for the Day
U.S. market indexes traded mixed on Thursday. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18352.05 for a loss of -2.95 points or -0.02 percent. The S&P 500 gained, closing at 2164.25 for a gain of 0.46 points or 0.02 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5166.25 for a gain of 6.51 points or 0.13 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at -0.44 points or -3.42 percent.
Thursday’s Market Movers
Leading reports on the economic calendar for Thursday included jobless claims and factory orders. Jobless claims were up 3,000 to a total of 269,000. Factory orders were down 1.5 percent.
Also a leading factor for the stock market on Thursday was the Bank of England’s decision to reduce rates. The Bank of England decreased its central bank rate to 0.25 percent from 0.50 percent. It also took other measures to help stimulate the economy and make credit access easier for borrowing. The Bank of England’s actions on Thursday likely helped U.S. stocks slightly. Yields globally will likely fall, following the lower central bank rate from the Bank of England. As fixed income yields fall, investors will likely search for dividend yield in stocks.
In market trading Thursday, stocks trading actively included the following: Chesapeake Energy, Twenty-First Century Fox, Bank of America, Ford, Frontier Communications Corp., Microsoft, Transocean, CF Industries Holdings, Apple and Metlife.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:
Losses (percent)
Walt Disney Co -0.97
The Home Depot Inc -0.74
Boeing Co -0.5
Pfizer Inc -0.4
3M Co -0.32
In the S&P 500, technology, materials, and consumer staples led the market higher. Technology stocks leading for the day included:
Gains (percent)
Verisk Analytics Inc 2.14
Tesla Motors Inc 2.13
PayPal Holdings Inc 1.97
NVIDIA Corp 1.85
Broadcom Ltd 1.75
Seagate Technology PLC 1.72
Facebook Inc A 1.51
Yahoo! Inc 1.38
In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.22 points or 0.17 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was up 0.23 points or 0.24 percent at 95.78.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was higher at 1213.76 for a gain of 1.03 points or 0.08 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 736.86 for a gain of 0.34 points or 0.05 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7415.63 for a gain of 6.61 points or 0.09 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8673.04 for a gain of 2.22 points or 0.03 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index which closed at 1546.97 for a gain of 0.33 points or 0.02 percent; the S&P 100 Index which closed at 958.94 for a gain of 0.11 points or 0.01 percent; the Russell 3000 Index which closed at 1278.37 for a gain of 0.40 points or 0.03 percent; the Russell 1000 Index which closed at 1198.95 for a gain of 0.32 points or 0.03 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index which closed at 618.03 for a loss of -0.04 points or -0.01 percent.
