US close: Dow plunges 190 points as dollar rallies and oil prices tumble
US stocks plunged on Tuesday as the dollar continued to surge ahead, while oil prices tumbled.
Charter Communications Inc.
$254.61
11:24 26/04/24
Dow Jones I.A.
38,239.66
04:30 15/10/20
Nasdaq 100
17,718.30
12:15 26/04/24
Time Warner Cable Inc.
$0.00
01:16 12/07/16
Twitter Inc
$53.70
11:00 08/03/24
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 190.48 points down to 18,041.54, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq lost 22 and 54 points respectively.
The dollar rallied on Friday, boosted by higher-than-expected inflation data, and maintained the momentum on Tuesday, gaining 1.25% against the yen, 0.59% against the pound and 0.93% against the euro.
Oil prices lost ground, with West Texas Intermediate losing 2.71% to $58.25 a barrel, while Brent crude lost 2.63% to $63.84 a barrel.
Raft of economic data impresses
US durable goods orders fell as expected in April, although the previous month's count was revised significantly higher.
Orders for goods made to last more than three years dropped by 0.5% month-on-month, to reach $235.5bn, according to the Department of Commerce.
"The upshot is that the anticipated pick-up in the growth rate of business investment in equipment in the second quarter appears to be firmly on track," said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics.
"This only makes up more confident that second-quarter GDP growth will be a healthy 2.5% to 3.0% annualised."
Sales of new homes in the US rebounded strongly in April, after suffering a sharp decline in March. According to data released on Tuesday, new home sales jumped 26% year-on-year in April to an annual rate of 517,000, marking a 6.8% increase from the previous month.
US house prices climbed 1.3% year-on-year in the first quarter, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index, marking the 15th consecutive quarterly price increase in the index.
US house prices rose in March, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index, which monitors prices in 20 cities. Prices rose 0.9% on the month and 5% year-over-year.
Economists had expected year-over-year growth of 4.6%, while the monthly gain was in line with expectations.
Meanwhile, the US consumer confidence index for May rose to 95.4 from 95.2 the month before, according to data by the Conference Board.
The reading beat forecasts by analysts, who had expected a slight dip to 95.0.
Fed could slow rate hikes
The US central bank might slow the pace at which it hikes rates should global economic growth prove weaker than expected, US Federal Reserve vice chairman Stanley Fischer said in a speech at Tel Aviv University.
“If foreign growth is weaker than anticipated, the consequences for the US economy could lead the Fed to remove accommodation more slowly than otherwise,” he said.
Time Warner surges on merger
In company news, Time Warner Cable jumped 7.15% after Charter Communications said it agreed a takeover deal worth $55bn for the cable-TV group. Charter Communications gained 2.58%.
Social media giant Twitter shed 0.27% after reports emerged that the company was in negotiations to acquire article sharing platform Flipboard for approximately $1bn.
Biotech group Cerulean Pharma fell 2.14% despite revealing the US Food and Drug Administration had granted orphan drug designation to its CRLX101 drug for ovarian cancer.
S&P 500 - Risers
Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) $183.60 +7.26%
Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) $25.86 +3.52%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $70.55 +1.28%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $58.59 +1.24%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $52.44 +1.00%
AbbVie Inc (ABBV) $66.12 +0.98%
E*TRADE Financial Corp. (ETFC) $29.78 +0.93%
Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) $44.15 +0.80%
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) $31.99 +0.79%
Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) $32.96 +0.70%
S&P 500 - Fallers
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $51.06 -7.28%
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $14.75 -6.11%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $3.41 -6.06%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $29.72 -5.62%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $4.92 -4.65%
QEP Resources Inc (QEP) $18.94 -4.54%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $20.08 -4.34%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $31.16 -4.21%
Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $19.31 -4.17%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $33.40 -3.91%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $129.62 -2.20%
Visa Inc. (V) $68.54 -1.55%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $103.29 -1.53%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $116.87 -1.48%
Boeing Co. (BA) $142.79 -1.39%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $85.35 -1.35%
American Express Co. (AXP) $80.19 -1.30%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $74.90 -1.27%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $170.18 -1.18%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $118.24 -1.13%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $179.78 +2.54%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $70.55 +1.28%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $58.59 +1.24%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $57.74 +0.53%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $42.45 +0.35%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $205.09 +0.04%
Sigma-Aldrich Corp. (SIAL) $139.13 +0.04%
DIRECTV (DTV) $91.57 +0.00%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $165.94 -3.49%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $77.77 -3.11%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $159.01 -2.79%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $88.33 -2.42%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $55.08 -2.31%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $104.12 -2.27%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $129.62 -2.20%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $75.50 -2.18%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $54.59 -2.15%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $93.19 -2.14%