U.S. Market Indexes Mixed as Investors Await Jobs Report
U.S. market indexes were mixed on Thursday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18268.50 for a loss of -12.53 points or -0.07 percent. The S&P 500 was higher, closing at 2160.77 for a gain of 1.04 points or 0.05 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 5306.85 for a loss of -9.17 points or -0.17 percent. The VIX Volatility Index closed at 12.84 for a loss of -0.15 points or -1.15 percent.
Thursday’s Market Movers
Stocks were mixed ahead of Friday’s jobs report. The Jobless Claims report was the leading report on the economic calendar Thursday. Jobless claims were down 5,000 to 249,000.
Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:
Bank of America
Procter & Gamble
Chesapeake Energy
Wells Fargo
Frontier Communications
Apple
General Electric
Ford
Coty
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses for the day:
American Express -3.76
Wal-Mart -3.22
UnitedHealth -0.82
General Electric -0.78
Pfizer -0.74
In the broad market, the healthcare sector led losses. The S&P 500 technology sector led gains. In the technology sector stocks with leading gains for the day included the following:
Liberty Media Group 7.52
Discovery Communications 2.74
Skyworks 2.05
In commodities, gold traded lower as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a loss of -1.12 points or -0.93 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.53 points or 0.55 percent to 96.69.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was lower at 1246.24 for a loss of -2.13 points or -0.17 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was lower at 755.02 for a loss of -0.35 points or -0.05 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was lower at 7611.42 for a loss of -14.22 points or -0.19 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index was lower at 8671.46 for a loss of -4.65 points or -0.05 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1544.24 for a gain of 2.31 points or 0.15 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 956.83 for a gain of 0.27 points or 0.03 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1279.43 for a loss of -0.17 points or -0.01 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1197.44 for a gain of 0.00 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 605.19 for a gain of 0.54 points or 0.09 percent.
