U.S. Market Indexes Lower after Pound’s Flash Crash
U.S. market indexes were lower Friday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18240.49 for a loss of -28.01 points or -0.15 percent. The S&P 500 was also down, closing at 2153.74 for a loss of -7.03 points or -0.33 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 5292.40 for a loss of -14.45 points or -0.27 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 13.47 for a gain of 0.63 points or 4.91 percent.
Friday’s Market Movers
On Friday stocks were lower after the British pound fell drastically in overnight trading, recovering only partially. On the economic calendar for the day were the following reports: Employment Situation, Wholesale Trade, Consumer Credit and the Baker Hughes Rig Count. The Employment Situation report showed a jobs increase of 156,000, slightly below expectations and the unemployment rate increased to 5%. Wholesale Trade inventories were down -0.2 percent from the previous month following a -0.1 percent decrease. Consumer Credit reported a month over month increase of $25.9 billion above consensus of $16.6 billion. The Baker Hughes Rig Count showed North American rigs increasing to 689 from 684. Federal Reserve officials Stanley Fischer, Loretta Mester, Esther George and Lael Brainard gave speeches on Friday.
Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:
Bank of America
Coty Inc.
Frontier Communications
Chesapeake Energy
General Electric
Gap
Wells Fargo
Apple
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:
United Technologies -1.47
Home Depot -1.44
DuPont -1.03
Wal-Mart -0.95
Caterpillar -0.92
In the broad market sectors leading losses included materials and industrial. The technology sector was also lower with S&P 500 technology stocks down -0.27 percent and the Nasdaq 100 down -0.19 percent. Stocks leading losses in technology included the following:
Liberty Global Group -7.61
Liberty Global Group -2.68
Mylan -2.44
Discovery Communications -2.36
Tesla Motors Inc. -2.18
In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.08 points or 0.07 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index lost -0.19 points or -0.20 percent to 96.50. The dollar gained versus the pound at an exchange rate of 1.2435.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was lower at 1236.56 for a loss of -9.68 points or -0.78 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was lower at 749.06 for a loss of -5.96 points or -0.79 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7551.16 for a loss of -60.26 points or -0.79 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8615.75 for a loss of -55.71 points or -0.64 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1533.96 for a loss of -10.28 points or -0.67 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 955.09 for a loss of -1.74 points or -0.18 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1274.60 for a loss of -4.83 points or -0.38 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1193.31 for a loss of -4.12 points or -0.34 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 602.78 for a loss of -2.41 points or -0.40 percent.
