Stock Market News For Sep 26, 2017

Markets ended lower on Monday as investors rotated out of tech stocks to energy stocks amid fresh threats from North Korea. In retaliation to President Trump’s tweet over the weekend, North Korean foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho threatened that his country reserved the rights to shoot down any U.S. bombers even if they are not within the Asian country’s borders. He reasoned that comments from Trump actually amounted to war on North Korea. Meanwhile, New York Fed President William Dudley, commented on Monday that he expects the inflation to rise and ‘stabilize’ around the targeted 2%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed at 22,296.09, losing 0.2%. The S&P 500 Index (INX) decreased 0.2% to close at 2,496.66. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC) closed at 6,370.59, decreasing 0.9%. A total of 6.42 billion shares were traded on Monday, higher than the last 20-session average of 6.02 billion shares. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1.28-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, decliners outnumbered advancers by 1.26-to-1 ratio. The CBOE VIX increased 6.5% to close at 10.21.

Geopolitical Tensions Escalate, Technology Shares Swoon

President Trump’s tweet over the weekend that North Korean leadership under Kim Jong-un ‘won't be around much longer,’ was not perceived too well by North Korea. On Monday, North Korea’s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho announced that President Trump’s latest comments actually meant a ‘declaration of war’ on the Asian country.

In retaliation to Trump’s comments, Ri said that his country reserves the right to shoot down any of the US bombers even if they are not within the renegade nation’s borders or airspace. Later on Monday, White House Secretary of press Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated that the United States had not declared any war of North Korea and condemned such a comment from Ri Yong Ho by calling his suggestions ‘absurd’.

Such geopolitical escalations with North Korea dampened investor sentiment as they rotated out of tech shares to value stocks including energy and retail. This sent the tech shares lower and the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLK) lost 1.16%. This overall tumbling of tech shares had negative ramifications for the broader markets. The S&P 500 ended lower as tech stocks swooned. Such losses could not be offset by gains for the energy shares. The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLE) gained 1.5%.

Meanwhile shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) dipped almost 1%, registering its fourth day of losses. This weighed heavily on the broader markets and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 56.33 points to end in the negative territory which also marked its biggest dip in a single session since Sep 5. Further, shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Visa (NYSE:V) tanked almost 2%, sending the Dow lower. Visa possesses a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), whereas Apple and Microsoft posses a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

As the investors rotated out of the tech shares into the energy shares, the U.S. crude futures gained 3.1% to $52.22 — the highest level since April. Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 index hit a record close at 1,455.22, beating the intraday high it had hit on Friday.

December Rate Hike Likely

In the backdrop of strong economic conditions, New York Fed President William Dudley, commented on Monday that he expects the inflation to rise and ‘stabilize’ around the targeted 2% —long sought by the central bank. He commented that encouraging overseas growth and weakening dollar would likely bolster the inflation in the U.S. In an address to some college students and professors at a community college, Dudley said that ‘firmer’ import prices and vanishing effects of a ‘number of temporary, idiosyncratic factors’ would push the inflation levels in the country.

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