Category Archives: Economy/Stock Market

April kicked off with heavy selling across U.S. equity markets with all major indices off more than 2% on Monday. The Nasdaq 100 dipped negative year to date for the first time in 2018, and 10 of 11 S&P sectors were lower on the year…

Stocks slipped on Monday with Technology shares dragging down the stock indices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.3%, falling back into negative territory for 2018. Facebook lost about $36.4 billion in market value on the discovery that a firm tied to Trump’s 2016 election campaign gathered data from millions of Facebook profiles without authorization.

Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index started the week slightly down, as investors continued to assess the proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The slip continued Tuesday after early market momentum faded following news of Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson’s ouster. Elsewhere, consumer prices ticked up in February, as the Consumer Price Index rose 0.2%, cooling slightly from a 0.5% jump in January.

Indices kicked off the first full week of March closing in the green zone on Monday, amid a variety of economic news. The ISM non-manufacturing index fell to 59.5 from 59.9 in January, indicating service activity decreased slightly. The upward momentum continued Tuesday as investors saw signs of disapproval to the potential tariffs on imported aluminum and steel. Mixed moves were on deck Wednesday.

The major U.S. indexes were uniformly strong on Monday, carrying over Friday’s bullishness into the new week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added as much as 400 points during the day, while the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ both benefited from a rally in Technology sector stocks. Indices traded into the red zone on Tuesday with stocks dipping on a variety of economic news.

The U.S. Markets were closed Monday, commemorating Presidents Day; however, the break from trading didn’t stop indices from sliding into red territory on Tuesday, marking the first declines for the indices since they entered correction territory on Feb. 8. The decline continued Wednesday as concerns about higher interest rates resurfaced with the release of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes from the January meeting.

The major indices closed in green territory on Monday as commodity prices stabilized. Energy stocks moved ahead on an increase in crude oil prices. The following day, the indices closed with slight gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending in the green zone, rebounding up off early low levels.