Category: Stock Market News

An auction of $20 billion worth of 4-week bills posted lackluster results after market participants looked to avoid purchase debt at risk of default if Congress fails to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling. The bills mature on October 5, close to the date when economists expect the government to run up against its borrowing cap. Thomas Simons, senior money market economist for Jefferies, called the sale “ghastly.” A sign of tepid demand, the auction “tailed”, stopping at 1.300%, 2 basis points above the when-issued level. The “tail” is the gap between the highest yield of the Treasury sold in the auction and the highest yield expected when the auction began – the “when issued” level.

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Orange juice prices jumped by more than 6% Tuesday, set to mark their highest settlement since mid-May as traders showed concern that Hurricane Irma in the Atlantic may hurt production of oranges in Florida. In a tweet Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said, “Irma is the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin outside of the Caribbean Sea & Gulf of Mexico in NHC records.” The storm’s projected path could take it to Florida in the next several days. David Maloni, president of the American Restaurant Association, a food and energy commodity-services organization, said “most of the production is in the middle of Florida south and north of Orlando. Concern is that high winds could damage trees and shorten output for the next crop.” November frozen concentrated orange juice climbed by 8.4 cents, or 6.2%, to $1.449 a pound on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange. That would be the highest settlement for a most-active contract since May 12, according to FactSet data.

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A popular measure of volatility on Wall Street jumped more than 30% on Tuesday as stock-index benchmarks saw one of their worst daily declines since mid August. The CBOE Volatility Index surged 34% Tuesday afternoon to 13.61, marking its biggest one-day rise since Aug. 10. Known as the fear gauge, the indicator is a measure of options bets on the S&P 500 index 30 days in the future and tends to be used as a sign of increased anxiety in the market because stocks fall faster than they rise. The jump in the gauge, which is still holding below its historic average of 20, comes as the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 272 points, or 1.2%, the S&P 500 index is off 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite Index is looking at a 1.6% tumble. A defiant North Korea, which warned at an unspecified counteroffensive strike as the U.S. attempts to impose sanctions on the Hermit Kingdom after it tested a hydrogen bomb over the weekend has been cited as among the reasons for the market’s recent downdraft after the Labor Day holiday. Concerns about President Donald Trump’s ability to enact pro-growth legislation also has helped to rattle markets that had been rising on the back of business friendly policies coming to fruition soon.

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Semiconductor makers weighed heavily on the tech sector Monday, which in turn helped drag down the broader stock market, with those losses accelerating around mid-session. The PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 2.1% to 1,096, as shares of Qualcomm Inc. fell 3.9% and shares of Nvidia Corp. dropped 3.5%. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. shares declined 3.6%, Micron Technology Inc. shares shed 2.7%, Applied Materials Inc. fell 2.5%, Analog Devices Inc. shares fell 2.7%, Xilinx Inc. shares declined 2.6%, Broadcom Ltd. shares slid 2.1%, and Texas Instruments Inc. shares fell 1.5%. Shares of Intel Corp. , however, were only down 0.4%. As the S&P 500 index fell 1.2%, tech was the index’s second worst performing sector, down 1.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.5%.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average early Tuesday was trading more than 225 points lower, with the bulk of that downturn driven by declines in shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and United Technologies Corp. Goldman ‘s shares alone were slicing 50 points from the Dow in early morning trade, off $7.44, or 3.3%. United Tech’s stock was off $5.70, or about 4.8%, after the industrial conglomerate said late Monday it had reached a deal to buy airplane-parts maker Rockwell Collins Inc. for $23 billion. United Tech rival, Boeing Co.’s shares were also trading firmly lower in the wake of the merger news. Meanwhile, insurer Travelers Inc. also pushed the equity gauge down. Its shares were off $2.92, or 2.4%, as Hurricane Irma was upgraded to a Category 5 storm and nearing Florida. A $1 move in the price-weighted Dow equates to a 6.89-point swing in the average. Heightened tensions between the West and North Korea were cited as the main reason behind the market’s retreat after Pyongyang tested a hydrogen bomb over the weekend. Other benchmarks were trading in decline as well. Most recently, the Dow was down 225 points, or 0.9% at 21,766, while the S&P 500 index was off 0.9% at 2,455, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was trading 1.1% lower at 6,367.

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Financial shares on Tuesday were facing their worst single-session slump in weeks as benchmark yields slumped amid elevated geopolitical worries swirling in the market. A popular exchange-traded fund used to bet on financial performance, the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF , was off 1.5%, putting it on pace to book its steepest one-day slide since Aug. 17, when it fell 1.7%, according to FactSet data. The decline in financials, highlighted by a 3.2% fall in shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. , came as the yield for the 10-year benchmark Treasury slipped to its lowest level, around 2.08%, since Nov. 10, just after President Donald Trump was elected into office. Global unrest centered on rising military tensions between North Korea and the rest of the globe after the Hermit Kingdom tested a hydrogen bomb over the weekend has underpinned a flight to assets perceived as safe, like government paper, which has pushed yields to lows. Bond prices and yields move inversely. More broadly, the financial sector was the worst performer group among the S&P 500’s 11. The broad-market gauge was down 0.5% at 2,464, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.7% at 21,845, with Goldman’s shares exacting the biggest toll on the price-weighted benchmark. The Nasdaq Composite Index was 0.6% lower at 6,397.

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House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that acting on a “permanent legislative solution” for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is among many immigration issues Congress must address, but didn’t commit to a timeline for doing so. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the rescinding of the program earlier Tuesday, saying it’s now up to Congress to act on reforming it. Ryan said hoped Congress would reach consensus on allowing the so-called Dreamers to “still contribute as a valued part of this great country.”

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The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield plunged to its lowest levels since Nov. 10, when President Donald Trump’s election led to a selloff in government paper. Geopolitical concerns strengthened the bid for government paper and other assets perceived as havens, helping to push down the 10-year Treasury yield 7.9 basis points to 2.088%. Yields, which move inversely to bond prices, fell across the board in the first U.S. trading session since tensions heated up in North Korea over the weekend. North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb on Sunday, prompting the U.S. to tell the U.N. Security Council that Pyongyang was “begging for war.” South Korea also warned that its northern neighbor is preparing to test its intercontinental ballistic missile this week.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is unconstitutional and is being “rescinded.” “We cannot admit everyone who would like to come here,” Sessions told reporters at the Justice Department. The states of New York and Washington said ahead of Sessions’ announcement that if President Donald Trump ended the program they would challenge the decision in court. Sessions said the immigration program was responsible for jobs being denied to Americans, and for a surge of minors at the southern border.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average early Tuesday was trading more than 100 points lower, with the bulk of that downturn driven by declines in shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and United Technologies Corp. Goldman ‘s shares alone were slicing more than 50 points from the Dow in early morning trade, off $8.15, or 3.6%. United Tech’s stock was off $4.64, or about 4%, after the industrial conglomerate said late Monday it had reached a deal to buy airplane-parts maker Rockwell Collins Inc. for $23 billion. Meanwhile, insurer Travelers Inc. also pushed the equity gauge firmly lower, down $2.09, or 1.7%, as Hurricane Irma was upgraded to a Category 5 storm. A $1 move in the price-weighted Dow equates to a 6.89-point swing in the average. Heightened tensions between the West and North Korea were cited as the main reason behind the market’s retreat after Pyongyang tested a hydrogen bomb over the weekend. Other benchmarks were trading in decline as well. Most recently, the Dow was down 171 points, or 0.8% at 21,816, while the S&P 500 index was off 0.5% at 2,463, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was trading 0.5% lower at 6,405.

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From:: Stock Market News