The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 25,995.87 on Thursday with a gain of 20.88 points or 0.08%. The S&P 500 closed at 2,878.05 for a loss of -10.55 points or -0.37%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,922.73 for a loss of -72.45 points or -0.91%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 14.62 for a gain of 0.71 points or 5.10%.
Thursday’s market movers
U.S. market indexes reported their third consecutive day of declines in September. Trade talks between the U.S. and Canada continued with no final agreement. Tech stocks were also lower with losses from Facebook (FB, Financial) and Twitter (TWTR, Financial) continuing after executive testimonies before Congress. In the S&P 500, the energy, technology and financial sectors led losses.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- The ADP Employment report showed an increase of 163,000 jobs in the private sector, below consensus of 182,000.
- Jobless claims decreased by -10,000 to 203,000.
- The Productivity and Costs report showed nonfarm productivity at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.9% for the second quarter, just below consensus of 3.0%.
- The Purchasing Managers' Services Index decreased to 54.8 from 56.0.
- Factory orders reported a -0.8% monthly decrease.
- The Institute for Supply Management’s Non-Manufacturing Index increased to 58.5 from 55.7.
- The EIA Petroleum Status report showed a decrease of -4.3 million barrels of oil inventory for the week.
- The Fed’s weekly balance sheet report showed a decrease of -$9.9 billion in assets for total assets of $4.219 trillion.
- Mortgage rates increased according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased two basis points to a weekly average of 4.54%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage average increased two basis points to 3.99%.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:
- Chevron (CVX, Financial) -3.10%
- Apple (AAPL, Financial) -1.67%
- Goldman Sachs (GS, Financial) -1.28%
- Exxon Mobil (XOM, Financial) -1.11%
- Intel (INTC, Financial) -0.96%
Small-cap stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,714.47 for a loss of -13.18 points or -0.76%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,084.05 for a loss of -7.71 points or -0.71%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 10,711.01 for a loss of -81.59 points or -0.76%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 10,665.36 for a loss of -54.31 points or -0.51%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,031.54 for a loss of -7.01 points or -0.34%; the S&P 100 at 1,273.98 for a loss of -5.45 points or -0.43%; the Russell 3000 at 1,710.69 for a loss of -6.86 points or -0.40%; the Russell 1000 at 1,597.15 for a loss of -5.92 points or -0.37%; the Wilshire 5000 at 29,990.09 for a loss of -128.98 points or -0.43%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 724.01 for a loss of -0.56 points or -0.08%.
