U.S. Market Indexes Lower with Election and Fed Uncertainty
U.S. market indexes were lower Tuesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18037.10 for a loss of -105.32 points or -0.58 percent. The S&P 500 closed at 2111.72 for a loss of -14.43 points or -0.68 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 5153.58 for a loss of -35.56 points or -0.69 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was higher for the day at 18.56 for a gain of 1.50 points or 8.79 percent.
Tuesday’s Market Movers
Stocks were lower Tuesday as election and Fed uncertainty continued. Economic reports also affecting indexes included the following:
- Motor vehicle sales were delayed due to a fire at Ford’s headquarters however the results for North America appear to be on track for a gain with an estimated 14.4 million SAAR versus 14.2 million SAAR in September. Consensus is for total vehicle sales of 17.3 million SAAR to 17.8 million SAAR.
- PMI Manufacturing Index was reported at 53.4 after 51.5 in the previous month
- ISM Mfg Index was reported at 51.9 after 51.5 in the previous month
- Construction spending was down 0.4 percent from the previous month and -0.2 percent from a year ago
Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:
Bank of America
Pfizer
Chesapeake Energy
Apple
CenturyLink
Ford
General Electric
Alcoa Upstream
AT&T
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:
Pfizer -2.02
Apple -1.81
Travelers -1.79
In the broad market real estate and utilities led losses. Technology stocks were also lower, down -0.86 percent. Stocks leading losses in technology included the following:
CenturyLink -6.06
Level 3 Communications -3.37
Autodesk -3.02
NVIDIA -2.97
Xerox -2.76
In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.79 points or 0.65 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was down -0.59 points or -0.60 percent to 97.76.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1177.94 for a loss of -13.45 points or -1.13 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 712.77 for a loss of -9.82 points or -1.36 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7131.23 for a loss of -63.29 points or -0.88 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8393.01 for a loss of -116.48 points or -1.37 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1494.01 for a loss of -15.45 points or -1.02 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 938.36 for a loss of -5.51 points or -0.58 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1246.31 for a loss of -9.10 points or -0.72 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1169.30 for a loss of -8.16 points or -0.69 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 594.57 for a loss of -7.75 points or -1.29 percent.