Stock Market News For Oct 10, 2017

Benchmarks ended in the negative territory on Monday following a slump in the healthcare and financial sectors. Shares of General Electric declined and dragged the Dow lower. However, shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) gained following speculations that it would gain from the new tax code proposed by the Trump administration.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed at 22,761, declining 0.1%. The S&P 500 Index (INX) decreased 0.2% to close at 2,545. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC) closed at 6,580, decreasing 0.2%. A total of 4.4 billion shares were traded on Monday, lower than the last 20-session average of 6.1 billion shares. Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1.21-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, decliners outnumbered advancers by 1.49-to-1 ratio. The CBOE VIX increased 5.2% to close at 10.15.

S&P 500, Nasdaq Post Losses

The S&P 500 lost almost 5 points to end in the negative territory on Monday, trading just a point off its intraday record earlier in the session. Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, six ended in the negative territory, with healthcare and financials leading the decliners. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLV) (XLV) and the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLF) (XLF) were down 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively.

Shares of Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) and Express Scripts Holding (NASDAQ:ESRX) which declined 3.6% and 5%, respectively, were the biggest drags on the healthcare sector. Moreover, the financial sector tanked after shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) , Citigroup (NYSE:C) , Bank of America (NYSE:C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) all declined 0.2%, 0.3%, 1.4% and 0.8%, respectively. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Shares of GE Weigh on the Dow

The Dow shed almost 13 points to finish in the negative territory. Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) tanked almost 4% and weighed heavily on the blue-chip index. Shares of the auto-maker plunged following news that its CEO Jeff Bornstein plans to step down from his post by the end of this year. Following him would be marketing chief of GE Beth Comstock and international executive John Rice, who would both step down from their respective posts. The carmaker also announced that it had given a board position to activist investment firm Trian Fund Management.

Trump’s New Tax Code Keeps the Markets Boosted

In an announcement earlier in the month, Trump and his aides unveiled new reforms in tax policies which effectively lower taxes on businesses and individuals. The proposal seeks to decrease the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%. Moreover, the pass-through business taxes — currently categorized under the individual tax code — would be slashed to 25%.

Subsequently, the plan also revealed that the current seven personal tax slabs would be reduced to only three at 12%, 25% and 35%, respectively. This boosted gains for the broader markets as investors remained highly hopeful about the new tax code to be signed into law.

Stocks That Made Headlines

Chevron (NYSE:CVX)'s LNG Project Comes Online, Achieves New Milestone

Energy behemoth Chevron Corporation (NYSE:C) recently commenced production at its Wheatstone LNG project in Western Australia.(Read More)

Phillips 66 Announces Share Repurchase Program Worth $3B

Midstream energy player Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) has received consent for a new share repurchase program of $3 billion from its board of directors. (Read More)

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