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Global Wrap:
Stock Market Continues Losing Streak
Current Futures: Dow -28.00, S&P -3.50, NASDAQ -3.00
Stock Markets in the United States had minor declines today, prolonging the current losing streak to the fourth day. The Dow lost 29.93 points while the S&P500 declined 3.29 points and the tech heavy Nasdaq lost a mere 1.82 points. Sectors were mixed on the day with energy seeing a 0.33 percent rise and the financial sector declining 0.54 percent.
During the early part of the U.S. session there were several key reports released. The first one out was the ADP employment change which has shown that companies cut more jobs than analysts had forecasted during August. Estimates were for about 250 thousand jobs to be eliminated whereas companies actually cut 298 thousand workers loose. This shows that even has the economy finds firm footing, some companies are still feeling uncertain about the recent strength. Despite the fact that companies have laid off more people than expected, worker productivity increased 6.6 percent. This is the fastest pace seen during the past 6 years as more workers are concerned over the job losses.
Factory orders for U.S. based plants have risen less than analysts’ expectations of 2.3 percent. The Commerce Department reported that factory orders came in at 1.3 percent in July. The report showed that durable goods, those designed to last three years or longer, rose 5.1 percent, the most in over two years. Meanwhile, orders for non-durable goods declined 1.9 percent.
Also released late in the session were the minutes from the previous Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Members discussed the possibility of tapering off purchases of mortgage bonds as they saw the downturn of activity decreasing, noting that growth would likely resume during the second half of the year.
The Dow Jones Index declined 29.93 points (-0.32%) to 9,280.67, while the S&P 500 index lost 3.29 points (-0.33%) to 994.75
Crude oil for October delivery was recently trading at $68.04 per barrel, lower by $0.01.
Gold for October delivery was recently trading higher by $25.10 to $981.60.
Treasuries gained on the day as the 10 year note yield reached its lowest level in nearly seven weeks. Yield on the 10-year note fell 6.0 basis points to 3.30%.