Stock Market News For Jul 3, 2019

Wall Street registered decent gains on Tuesday. The indexes ended in the green after President Donald Trump told reporters that discussions with China on trade had “already begun”. However, gains were capped after the US threatened new tariffs on European Union products. These tariffs were proposed in the wake of a prolonged dispute over aircraft subsidies, which arrived just when U.S.-China trade tensions appeared to have taken a backseat. Separately, losses among bank shares also dented investors’ sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) increased 0.26%, to close at 26,786.75. The S&P 500 gained 0.29% to close at 2,973.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.22%, finishing at 8,109.09. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 8.04% to close at 12.93. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.24-to-1 ratio. A 1.30-to-1 ratio favored decliners on Nasdaq.

How Did the Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow’s gain of 69 points on Tuesday was broad-based. The index rose for a third straight session on Jul 2, with shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) leading the gains with 2.59% and 1.95% respectively. Both the stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The S&P 500 gained 8.7 points and closed at a new record high for the second session on Tuesday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 18 points on Jul 2.

Trump’s $4 billion Potential EU Tariffs

United States threatened European Union with $4 billion in probable additional tariffs on Jul 1, in a bid to pressurize Europe in a lengthy dispute over aircraft subsidies. The 89 items’ additional list comprise of Scotch Whiskey, Italian cheese, pasta, ham and coffee among other items.

This additional list is second to an earlier list that includes about $21 billion in EU products. Both countries have threatened levies on each other’s products in a trade spat after aircraft subsidies were provided to European aircraft maker Airbus and its American rival Boeing (NYSE:BA) .

Bank Shares Suffer Loss after US Yield Hits Lowest Since 2016

The benchmark 10-year yield fell to the lowest since November 2016, trading around 1.98% while the 2-year rate fell to 1.77% on Jul 2. This led to the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (NYSE:KBE) close 1.27% lower on Jul 2 and led the losses in bank shares.

Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) fell 0.42% while Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Corporation (NYSE:C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) & Company (NYSE:C) shed more than 0.9% each.

Stocks That Made Headlines

Varian to Acquire Boston Scientific's Embolic Bead Products

Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VAR) recently announced an asset purchase agreement to acquire Boston Scientific’s (NYSE:BSX) portfolio of drug-loadable microsphere and bland embolic bead products for $90 million. (Read more)

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