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Markets ended mostly lower after a volatile trading session on Wednesday after a summary of the Fed’s most recent policy meeting showed that the central bank was inclined toward more rate hikes in the days to come. This comes a day after markets witnessed one of their best sessions since late March. The weaker sentiment among investors once again led to huge selloffs, with all the major indexes ending in negative territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) skidded 0.4%, to close at 25,706.68. The S&P 500 declined less than 0.1% to close at 2,809.21. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 7,642.70, declining less than 0.1%. A total of 7.08 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 7.9 billion shares. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.70-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.39-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.
How did the Benchmark Perform?
The Dow shed 91.74 points after paring earlier losing and entering into positive territory briefly. The 30-stock index lost as much as 300 points at one time of the day. Shares of International Business Machine Corporation (IBM - Free Report) plummeted as much as 7.6%, offsetting robust gains in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS - Free Report) . Shares of Goldman Sachs gained 3%. Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH - Free Report) declined 1.9%. UnitedHealth has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The S&P 500 lost 0.71 points, closing almost flat. The index zigzagged between positive and negative territory for a post the release of the minutes of the Fed’s last meeting. Of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, seven ended in negative territory. The Consumer Discret Sel Sect SPDR (XLY) declined 0.8%, while the Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI) fell 0.7%. The tech heavy Nasdaq shed 2.79 points. Shares of Netflix, Inc. (NFLX - Free Report) jumped 5.3%.
Minutes of Fed’s Last Meeting Weigh Heavy
After huge selloffs last week, on Tuesday, markets witnessed one of their best sessions since March. However, they failed to hold on to the gain on Wednesday, as the minutes of the Fed’s September meeting showed that the central bank feel that interest rates should continue to rise till policy becomes restrictive.
Despite President Donald Trump’s sharp criticism of the Fed, policymakers in the September meeting showed agreement on the recent rate hike and feel believe that further gradual rate hikes would be consistent with economic expansion. Although minutes of meeting ideally isn’t a reason for volatility, the rise in treasury yield in the last few days made investors closely follow it. The 10-year Treasury note climbed to a seven year high last week and traded around 3.19% after the minutes of Fed’s last meeting were released.
Markets were trading in a wide range before the minutes were released. However, after the minutes were released, it once again raised concerns of rapidly rising interest rates. This dented investors’ confidence once again leading to huge selloffs.
Weak Economic Data Dent Investors’ Confidence
Weak economic data further weighed on markets on Wednesday. Housing starts fell 5.3% in September. Although the number reflects a 3.7% year-over-year increase, it came in below expectations. Also, the number of new homes under construction declined 0.6% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.201 million last month. This is 1% below last year’s levels. This somewhat once again dented invetors’ confidence.
Wall Street’s Next Amazon
Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.
Image: Bigstock
Stock Market News For Oct 18, 2018
Markets ended mostly lower after a volatile trading session on Wednesday after a summary of the Fed’s most recent policy meeting showed that the central bank was inclined toward more rate hikes in the days to come. This comes a day after markets witnessed one of their best sessions since late March. The weaker sentiment among investors once again led to huge selloffs, with all the major indexes ending in negative territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) skidded 0.4%, to close at 25,706.68. The S&P 500 declined less than 0.1% to close at 2,809.21. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 7,642.70, declining less than 0.1%. A total of 7.08 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 7.9 billion shares. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.70-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.39-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.
How did the Benchmark Perform?
The Dow shed 91.74 points after paring earlier losing and entering into positive territory briefly. The 30-stock index lost as much as 300 points at one time of the day. Shares of International Business Machine Corporation (IBM - Free Report) plummeted as much as 7.6%, offsetting robust gains in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS - Free Report) . Shares of Goldman Sachs gained 3%. Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH - Free Report) declined 1.9%. UnitedHealth has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The S&P 500 lost 0.71 points, closing almost flat. The index zigzagged between positive and negative territory for a post the release of the minutes of the Fed’s last meeting. Of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, seven ended in negative territory. The Consumer Discret Sel Sect SPDR (XLY) declined 0.8%, while the Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI) fell 0.7%. The tech heavy Nasdaq shed 2.79 points. Shares of Netflix, Inc. (NFLX - Free Report) jumped 5.3%.
Minutes of Fed’s Last Meeting Weigh Heavy
After huge selloffs last week, on Tuesday, markets witnessed one of their best sessions since March. However, they failed to hold on to the gain on Wednesday, as the minutes of the Fed’s September meeting showed that the central bank feel that interest rates should continue to rise till policy becomes restrictive.
Despite President Donald Trump’s sharp criticism of the Fed, policymakers in the September meeting showed agreement on the recent rate hike and feel believe that further gradual rate hikes would be consistent with economic expansion. Although minutes of meeting ideally isn’t a reason for volatility, the rise in treasury yield in the last few days made investors closely follow it. The 10-year Treasury note climbed to a seven year high last week and traded around 3.19% after the minutes of Fed’s last meeting were released.
Markets were trading in a wide range before the minutes were released. However, after the minutes were released, it once again raised concerns of rapidly rising interest rates. This dented investors’ confidence once again leading to huge selloffs.
Weak Economic Data Dent Investors’ Confidence
Weak economic data further weighed on markets on Wednesday. Housing starts fell 5.3% in September. Although the number reflects a 3.7% year-over-year increase, it came in below expectations. Also, the number of new homes under construction declined 0.6% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.201 million last month. This is 1% below last year’s levels. This somewhat once again dented invetors’ confidence.
Wall Street’s Next Amazon
Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.
Click for details >>