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Stock Market News For Dec 11, 2018

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Markets closed higher on Monday after recovering from early losses. The rebound was led by a rally in tech stocks, as renewed confidence in the economy’s strength offset worries about U.S.-China trade disputes. However, investors remained on edge about global economic growth, as British prime minister Theresa May announced a decision to postpone an important Brexit vote in the country’s parliament. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) advanced 0.1% to close at 24,423.26. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2% to close at 2,637.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 7,020.52, gaining 0.7%. A total of about 8.40 billion shares were traded on Monday, higher than the last 20-session average of 8.01 billion shares. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 2.17-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.47-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.

How did the Benchmark Perform?

The Dow added 34.31 points, after losing as much as 507 points at one time during the session. Shares of The Boeing Company (BA - Free Report) gained 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 51.27 points, led by a rally in tech stocks. Shares of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX - Free Report) increased 0.7% and 1.7%, respectively. Shares of Facebook gained 3.2%. Amazon has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The S&P 500 gained 4.64 points. At one point, the index was down 50 points. However, it closed 1.9% above its intra-day low, its biggest rebound since Feb 6. The recovery was led by a rally in tech stocks. The Communication Services Sector SPDR (XLC) and the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) gained 0.8% and 1.4%, respectively. Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors ended in positive territory.

Concerns of Global Growth Linger

Lingering concerns of slowing global economic growth and trade war fears made investors jittery once again on Monday. These concerns further escalated after latest data revealed sharp slowdown in Chinese export growth. Also, a delayed Brexit vote in the United Kingdom weighed on markets. British Prime Minister Theresa May announced the delay of a key Brexit vote in the parliament, which was scheduled to happen on Tuesday, kept investors on edge.

Moreover, trade worries too have been coming in the way of the tradition end-of-the-year gains. On Monday, these concerns continued to dent investors’ confidence, which led to huge selloffs initially.

Tech Stocks Help Markets Rebound

A rally in tech stocks once again helped markets bounce back from the intra-day lows, as renewed confidence in the economy’s strength offset worries of U.S.-China trade disputes. Tech stocks have been responsible from the markets’ long rally. On Tuesday, all major tech companies, led by the FAANG group of stocks, posted gains.

However, Apple’s stock initially declined after Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM - Free Report) was granted an injunction against the iPhone maker by a Chinese court. According to Qualcomm, the order bans iPhone’s import and sales in China. However, it is still unclear how it will impact Apple’s sales in China in the future. Apple said that it would only impact the sales of iPhones with an older operating system.

Investors’ confidence was also reinstated following the release strong economic data. The Labor Department said that U.S. job openings rose to 7.08 million in October from 6.96 million in September.    

Stocks That Made Headlines

Hess Provides 2019 E&P Budget of $2.9B, Up 38.1% Y/Y

Hess Corporation’s (HES - Free Report) 2019 exploration and production (E&P) budget of $2.9 billion, up 38.1% from the previous estimate of $2.1 billion for 2018. (Read More)

Conoco (COP - Free Report) Releases 2019 Capital Budget & Operation Plan

ConocoPhillips’ (COP - Free Report) capital expenditure budget for 2019 is unchanged from the estimated capital expenditures for 2018. (Read More)

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