Stock Market News For Jun 20, 2018

Markets ended sharply lower on Tuesday, as trade war fears escalated once again after President Donald Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese goods, and China said that it would retaliate. This saw all three major indexes closing in the red. The Dow gave up all of its gains for the year, posting its sixth-day losing streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) declined 1.2%, to close at 24,700.21. The S&P 500 declined 0.4% to close at 2,762.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 7,725.59, declining 0.3%. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) hit almost a three-week high of 14.68 points before easing to 13.35. A total of 7.12 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 6.95 billion shares. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.41-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.34-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.

How did the Benchmark Perform?

The Dow lost 287.26 points, with shares of trade-sensitive industrial stocks suffering the most. Shares of Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) declined 3.8% and 3.6%, respectively. The sixth consecutive decline for Dow is the longest such decline since Mar 2017. Caterpillar has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Tuesday was also an eventful day, as General Electric Co (NYSE:GE) lost its spot in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after more than a century. GE will be replaced in the 30-component stock average by drug store chain Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NYSE:BA) on June 26.

The S&P 500 shed 11.18 points. The Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) declined 2.1%, while the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) declined 1.8%. The tech heavy Nasdaq lost 21.44 points.

Fears of Trade War Escalate

Fears of a trade war between the United States and China once gain made investors jittery. On Monday, President Donald Trump ordered United States Trade Representative to identify Chinese goods worth $200 billion for additional tariffs of 10%. Trump also threatened China that the United States would impose tariffs on additional $200 billion goods if China tried to retaliate.

Consequently, China too said that it would have to take comprehensive measures to counter United States’ trade moves. This once again dented investors’ confidence and rattled markets. Shares of chipmakers, which heavily depend on China for a large portion of their revenues, tumbled on the news. Shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) declined 1.8% and 0.8%, respectively. Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) fell 0.7%.

Housing Starts Hit 11-Year High

Housing starts increased by 5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.35 million units in May. This is the highest level recorded since July 2007. However, building permits declined by 4.6% to 1.3 million units. This is the lowest level recorded since September 2017.

Stocks That Made Headlines

FedEx Q4 Earnings & Revenues Beat, FY19 View Upbeat

FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) reported better-than-expected results in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 (ended May 31, 2018), driven by e-commerce growth and a buoyant U.S. economy. (Read More)

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