U.S. Market Indexes Down with Election Uncertainty and Lower Construction Spending
U.S. market indexes were lower Monday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18253.85 for a loss of -54.30 points or -0.30 percent. The S&P 500 was also down, closing at 2161.20 for a loss of -7.07 points or -0.33 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 5300.87 for a loss of -11.13 points or -0.21 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower for the day at 13.66 for a gain of 0.37 points or 2.78 percent.
Monday’s Market Movers
Leading reports on the economic calendar Monday included Motor Vehicle Sales, the Gallup U.S. Consumer Spending Measure, the PMI Manufacturing Index, the ISM Manufacturing Index and Construction Spending. Preliminary motor vehicle sales were reportedly at 13.8 million annualized for North America, meeting expectations and matching last month’s sales of $13.4 million. The Gallup U.S. Consumer Spending report showed consumer spending at $91 a day in September, with no change from August. The PMI Manufacturing Index was down for the month at 51.5 from 52 in August. The ISM Manufacturing Index increased to 51.5 from 49.4. Construction Spending was down -0.7 percent from the previous month. For the year, consumer spending was lower by -0.3 percent, down from an annual increase of 1.5 percent in the previous report.
Stocks ended the day lower as construction spending missed expectations for the real estate sector. Election uncertainty was also a factor investors began to consider fourth quarter earnings.
Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:
Bank of America
Wells Fargo
Chesapeake Energy
Procter & Gamble
Transocean
Apple
Ford
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks leading losses included the following:
Travelers -1.35
Procter & Gamble -1.21
UnitedHealth -1.08
International Business Machines Corp. -0.78
Cisco -0.69
Coca-Cola -0.69
3M -0.68
McDonald’s -0.62
Pfizer -0.56
Sectors leading losses for the day included utilities, consumer and financial. Technology was lower for the day with S&P 500 technology stocks down 0.29 percent. The Nasdaq 100 closed at 4866.63 for a loss of -9.07 points or -0.19 percent. Stocks leading losses in technology for the day included the following:
Qualcomm -2.03
Autodesk -1.59
Broadcom -1.42
NetApp -1.28
Citrix -1.24
Viacom -1.08
eBay -1.03
In commodities, gold traded lower as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a loss of -0.32 points or -0.25 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.23 points or 0.24 percent to 95.72.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1245.78 for a loss of -5.86 points or -0.47 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 754.24 for a loss of -2.66 points or -0.35 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7593.57 for a loss of -23.27 points or -0.31 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8688.03 for a loss of -63.47 points or -0.73 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1542.08 for a loss of -10.18 points or -0.66 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 956.16 for a loss of -2.52 points or -0.26 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1280.25 for a loss of -4.35 points or -0.34 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1198.31 for a loss of -3.94 points or -0.33 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 610.93 for a loss of -3.85 points or -0.63 percent.
