U.S. Market Indexes Lower with Continued Focus on Election
U.S. market indexes were lower Friday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17888.28 for a loss of -42.39 points or -0.24 percent. The S&P 500 closed at 2085.18 for a loss of -3.48 points or -0.17 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 5046.37 for a loss of -12.04 points or -0.24 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 22.97 for a gain of 0.89 points or 4.03 percent.
Friday’s Market Movers
Stocks were lower Friday despite a positive jobs report as investors focused on the election. Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump has now fallen from 7 percent 2 percent. Economic reports affecting the market on Friday included the following:
- Jobs report showed an increase of 161,000 jobs and the unemployment rate decreased to 4.9 percent
- International trade showed a decrease in the trade deficit with a trade balance of $-36.4 billion
- The Baker Hughes Rig Count increased to 723 from 710
Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:
Bank of America
Chesapeake Energy
Frontier Communications
Pfizer
General Electric
Apple
Wells Fargo
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:
Procter & Gamble -1.71
Walt Disney -1.02
JPMorgan -0.97
Travelers -0.92
Apple -0.86
In the broad market, consumer staples and financial stocks led losses. Technology was also lower with the S&P 500 technology sector down -0.23 percent. Stocks leading losses in technology included the following:
Qorvo -9.93
Symantec -7.7
NetApp -6.15
First Solar -5.88
Activision Blizzard -3.81
Xerox -2.14
In commodities, Gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.09 points or 0.07 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was down -0.19 points or -0.20 percent to 96.95.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1163.95 for a gain of 7.06 points or 0.61 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 707.16 for a gain of 3.52 points or 0.50 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7008.95 for a gain of 29.75 points or 0.43 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8328.54 for a gain of 29.36 points or 0.35 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1478.90 for a gain of 2.22 points or 0.15 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 923.93 for a loss of -2.70 points or -0.29 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1230.81 for a loss of -0.81 points or -0.07 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1154.83 for a loss of -1.25 points or -0.11 percent; the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 585.72 for a loss of -1.63 points or -0.28 percent.
