US close: Stocks mostly lower ahead of Fed decision
Stocks on Wall Street finished broadly lower on Tuesday amid quieter trading, as investors held their breath ahead of the Fed’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday and continued to react to worsening trade concerns.
Dow Jones I.A.
37,986.40
04:30 15/10/20
Nasdaq 100
17,037.65
11:25 19/04/24
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.26% to 26,492.21 and the S&P 500 lost 0.12% to 2,915.56, while the Nasdaq Composite managed to add 0.2% to 8.007.47.
Traders were by and large closing their wallets ahead of Wednesday’s Fed decision, with most market watchers picking a 25 basis point hike in the central bank’s interest rate target.
“It would be astonishing if the Fed doesn't raise rates today, and Chair Powell is not in the astonishment business; they will hike by 25 basis points,” noted Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson.
“We expect the dotplot to confirm that most FOMC members expect another hike in December, and we see no good reason to expect any change to the projection for three further hikes next year.”
Trade concerns also remained close to the top of the agenda, after Chinese officials accused US president Donald Trump of “trade bullyism” on Monday as the latest round of tariffs came into effect between the two countries.
Washington levied a 10% punitive tariff on $200bn of Chinese goods, set to rise to 25% in the new year, while Beijing retaliated with tariffs on $60bn of American goods.
On the economic front, fresh data showed home prices slowed to their weakest pace of growth since last summer in July, at 0.2%.
Meanwhile, the US consumer confidence index improved to 138.4 for September, from 134.7 in August.
In corporate news, AstraZeneca was ahead by 2.25% in New York after it released data showing that its cancer treatment Imfinzi reduced the risk of death by nearly a third for patients, when compared to the existing standard of care.
Ascena Retail Group surged 11.72% after beating expectations for both earnings and sales in a release late on Monday, while Intel fell 2.13% after being downgraded to ‘underperform’ by Raymond James.
Fast food brand Sonic was 18.71% higher after Inspire Brands agreed to acquire the chain for $2.3bn, including debt, and Michael Kors was up 1.95% after rumours that it would buy Versace were sated by confirmation of a deal worth $2.12bn.
Dow Jones - Risers
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $166.42 1.90%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $113.84 0.76%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $222.19 0.63%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $84.79 0.62%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $123.37 0.61%
Visa Inc. (V) $149.57 0.31%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $95.10 0.19%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $48.47 0.06%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $154.10 0.06%
American Express Co. (AXP) $109.88 0.04%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $45.91 -2.13%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $263.52 -1.44%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $83.13 -1.36%
3M Co. (MMM) $210.62 -1.34%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $138.64 -1.30%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $131.29 -1.16%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $53.06 -0.90%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $45.68 -0.85%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $148.91 -0.75%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $139.71 -0.45%
S&P 500 - Risers
GameStop Corp. (GME) $16.02 3.22%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $6.67 2.77%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $54.26 2.77%
Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) $314.41 2.71%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $30.22 2.68%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $42.99 2.48%
FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $32.54 2.42%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $1,974.55 2.08%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $19.99 1.99%
Mosaic Company (MOS) $32.61 1.94%
S&P 500 - Fallers
CenturyLink Inc. (CTL) $21.05 -8.08%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $78.77 -4.29%
General Electric Co. (GE) $11.27 -4.00%
Sealed Air Corp. (SEE) $39.99 -3.82%
Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) $7.10 -3.14%
Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) $22.97 -3.04%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $32.76 -2.85%
Qorvo, Inc. (QRVO) $76.25 -2.80%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $40.81 -2.79%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $92.56 -2.57%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $215.55 2.63%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $28.33 2.31%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $29.01 2.29%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $1,974.55 2.08%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $155.40 1.68%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $143.79 1.62%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $111.28 1.45%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $267.84 1.42%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $221.96 1.40%
Hologic Inc. (HOLX) $41.23 1.38%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $78.77 -4.29%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $319.62 -3.55%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $32.76 -2.85%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $40.81 -2.79%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $58.07 -2.78%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $92.56 -2.57%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $21.20 -2.26%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $77.36 -2.25%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $151.29 -2.23%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $45.91 -2.13%