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There’s a silver lining in the stock market’s tumble Thursday, the high-yield bond trackers are outperforming the S&P 500 by a wide margin, which suggests the selling isn’t being driven by fears of a liquidity squeeze. The SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond exchange-traded fund slipped just 0.33% and the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF eased just 0.27%, while the S&P 500 tumbled 1.43%. That’s good news, because Wall Street traders would always prefer to sell because they want to, even if they are worried about a potential economic slowdown or a trade war, rather than being forced to sell to raise funds as market liquidity dries up.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is racking up such a severe monthly loss that the blue-chip average is on the verge of putting in its worst March since 2001, when it declined 5.87%, according to WSJ Market Data Group. The Dow is presently on track to shed 700 points for the month, but at its lows Thursday afternoon, it was tracking a monthly decline of more than 800 points or more than 3%. The slump for equities comes as investors wrestled with impending import tariffs from President Donald Trump’s administration on China and jitters around the Federal Reserve’s ability to avoid pushing the economy into recession as it normalizes monetary policy from crisis-era levels amid fiscal stimulus that risks overheating an economy that is roughly in its ninth year of expansion. The Dow most recently was off 370 points, or 1.5%, at 24,313. More broadly, the S&P 500 index was down 1.2% at 2,678, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was off by 1.3% at 7,249. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are staring down their worst March declines since 2015.

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From:: Stock Market News

The European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and South Korea will get a temporary exemption from the steel and aluminum tariffs the Trump administration is imposing, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told a Senate hearing. Notably, that means Japan will not get an exemption.

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From:: Stock Market News

The S&P utilities sector jumped on Thursday, bucking the sharply negative trend of the overall market as it was poised for its biggest one-day pop in nearly three weeks. The sector gained 1.8%, while the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF , the largest-exchange traded fund to track the industry group, was up 1.4%. The rally comes after three straight days of losses, and amid a broad decline in the U.S. stock market. Utilities are seen as a defensive sector, one offering more stability and higher dividend yields than the overall market. Historically, it has outperformed in periods of economic uncertainty. Currently, the sector has a dividend yield of about 3.5%, compared with the 1.8% yield of the S&P 500 and the 2.81% yield of the U.S. 10 Year Treasury Note . The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.8% on Thursday while the S&P 500 was off 1.6% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.7%. The losses came as the Trump administration’s plans to announce new trade restraints against China renewed fears about a potential trade war that could dent economic growth. Utilities were by far the top-performing S&P 500 sector of the day, and one of only three in positive territory.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Cboe Volatility index jumped on Thursday, returning back above its long-term average level as the U.S. stock market sold off broadly amid concerns about trade and ongoing weakness in the technology sector. The VIX climbed 23%, or 4.18 points, to 22.04, putting it on track for its biggest one-day pop since Feb. 5, when it more than doubled off historically low levels. The so-called “fear index,” which generally moves inversely to the stock market, climbed as the Trump administration’s plans to announce new trade restraints against China, renewing fears about a potential trade war that could dent economic growth. Ongoing weakness in Facebook Inc. added to the negative tone in equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.9% on Friday while the S&P 500 lost 1.7%. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.9%. The VIX, which reflects bullish and bearish S&P 500 options wagers 30 days out, has more than doubled in 2018, having risen 102.5%.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was seeing losses gathering steam in Thursday afternoon trade, putting the blue-chip gauge on the verge of registering its steepest single-session decline since Feb.8. Back then in early February, the Dow fell 1,033 points, or 4.2%, as inflation fears perked up. Thursday’s downtrend, which was broad based, came as investors fretted about the effect of a potential trade war between China and the U.S., and as the market digested the latest policy update from the Federal Reserve. Recent reports of the resignation of President Donald Trump’s lead attorney, handling the Russia probe, also appeared to rattle investor confidence. More broadly, the S&P 500 index was off 1.7% at 2,665, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was off 1.8% at 7,209.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Nasdaq-100 slumped on Thursday, putting the index of large-capitalization stocks traded on the exchange on track for its seventh decline of the past eight sessions. The index sank 2.1%, and is down 4.4% thus far this week. According to FactSet, the PowerShares QQQ Trust , the largest exchange-traded fund to track the index, has seen $1.4 billion in outflows over the past week. That represents some of the highest outflows of any stock-based ETF over that time period. Recent weakness in the index has largely come on the back of Facebook Inc. . The social-media giant fell 2.4% on Thursday, extending a period of weakness that could represent its biggest one-week decline in about four years. Facebook, a major component of the Nasdaq 100, has been enduring a firestorm and stock selloff after data-mining company Cambridge Analytica reportedly used the personal details of 50 million Facebook users without authorization. On Wednesday night, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the controversy during an interview with CNN, and said he’d be willing to testify before Congress. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.9% while the S&P 500 was off 1.8% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was off 2%.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was under pressure on Thursday, extending a downturn for blue-chip stocks that risks pushing it to its lowest close since early February, according to FactSet data. The Dow was down 350 points, or 1.4%, at 24,333, in recent trade. A close around that level would mark its lowest finish since it ended at 24,191 on Feb. 9. Resurgent protectionist talk, with the Trump administration planning to announce new import duties against China, has renewed concerns about a potential trade conflict between two of the world’s economic powerhouses. Anxieties around heightened trade tensions pushed the 10-year Treasury note yield to 2.82%, a fall of nearly 10 basis points for the benchmark Treasury, which draws bids amid uncertainty. Bond prices rise as yields fall. Wall Street also was contending with the Federal Reserve’s policy update on Wednesday, as the central bank raised rates a quarter-point, as expected, but signaled that the pace of rate hikes would accelerate in the future. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index was down 1.3% at 2,677, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.3% at 7,252.

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From:: Stock Market News

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas fell by 86 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 16. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had forecast a decrease of 87 billion, while the five-year average withdrawal is 53 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.446 trillion cubic feet, down 667 billion cubic feet from a year ago, and 329 billion below the five-year average, the government said. April natural gas was up less than a penny, or 0.3%, at $2.645 per million British thermal units, down slightly from $2.659 before the data.

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From:: Stock Market News