Stock Market News For Dec 27, 2017

Shares of Apple declined to suffer the worst daily drop since August on Tuesday, weighing on the broader markets. Retail holiday sales in the United States surged to a six-year high, pushing the sector’s stocks higher. Further, energy shares rallied after U.S. crude futures surged on Tuesday. Despite such gains the benchmarks ended in the negative territory as losses incurred due to Apple could not be offset.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) decreased 0.03%, to close at 24,746.21. The S&P 500 Index (INX) fell 0.1% to close at 2,680.50. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC) closed at 6,936.25, declining 0.3%. A total of 4.03 billion shares were traded on Monday, lower than the last 20-session average of 6.9 billion shares. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.30-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.14-to-1 ratio favored declining issues. The CBOE VIX increased 1.3% to close at 10.03.

Best Retail Holiday Sales Since 2011

Per the report from Mastercard SpendingPulse on Tuesday, the year-end retail holiday sales in the United States surged 4.9% from Nov 1 to Dec 24 this year. This also marked its biggest year-over-year increase since 2011. Further, the online retail sales alone have increased 18.1% in the holiday season. This indicates that consumer confidence is on a high.

Following such reports, retail stocks went on a tear. Shares of Macy’s (NYSE:M) , Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) , Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) all rallied 4.6%, 6%, 1% and 5.4%, respectively. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (MX:XRT) gained 1.1%.

Apple’s Shares Swoon, Weigh on the Dow

The Dow lost 7.9 points on Tuesday to end in the negative territory on Tuesday. Such losses followed a decline in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) . Shares of the iPhone-maker plummeted 2.5% — its worst decline since August, after Taiwan’s Economic Daily reported that the tech-giant is planning to cut its current quarter sales forecast for the new iPhone X by 40% to 30 million units, down from the initial 50 million units. Apple possesses a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

No formal statements were released by Apple on this issue. Further, shares of Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWKS) and Micron Technology, Inc. (NYSE:M) also declined 1.9% and 4.2%, respectively following such reports. This led to a slump in the tech sector. Although shares of Home Depot (NYSE:HD) gained 2.2%, it could not offset the Dow’s losses incurred due to Apple’s decline. Shares of Apple also weighed on the broader markets. Nasdaq suffered broad based losses and declined 23.7 points to end in the red.

U.S. Crude Futures Hit 2 ½ -Year High

Energy stocks rallied on Tuesday after the U.S. Crude futures rose 2.6% to close at $59.97 a barrel for first time since June 2015. Crude futures briefly hit the $60 mark earlier in the session. Such an increase followed reports of an explosion at a crude pipeline in Libya.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLE) surged 0.9% on Tuesday. Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, six ended in the green. However, the S&P 500 lost 2.8 points to end in the red as such gains could not offset losses incurred due to Apple. The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLK) declined 0.7% and led the laggards of the S&P 500.

Stocks That Made Headlines

Why Capital One Cut Share Buyback on the New Tax Law

Almost everyone is cheering the implementation of the new tax law. But this will have an adverse near-term impact on financial performance of some companies. (Read More)

Wall Street’s Next Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.

Click for details >>