US Market Indexes Lower on Political Worries

U.S. market indexes were lower Wednesday.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 20,606.93 for a loss of 372.82 points or 1.78%. The Standard & Poor's 500 closed at 2,357.03 for a loss of 43.64 points or 1.82%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 6,011.24 for a loss of 158.63 points or 2.57%. Price volatility was high for the day with the VIX Volatility Index ending at 15.59 for a gain of 4.94 points or 46.38%.

Tuesday’s market movers

Stocks were lower for the day with President Donald Trump’s FBI controversy affecting valuations. Economic reports released on Tuesday included the following:

• The Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage applications index decreased by 4.1% for the week.
• The EIA Petroleum Status report showed a decrease in oil inventory of 1.8 million barrels.

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:

• Goldman Sachs (GS, Financial) -5.27%.
• JPMorgan (JPM, Financial) -3.81%.
• Apple (AAPL, Financial) -3.36%.
• DuPont (DD, Financial) -3.21%.
• Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) -2.78%.

In the broad market, financial stocks led losses. Technology stocks were also lower with the S&P 500 technology sector down 2.73%.

Small-cap stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,355.89 for a loss of 38.79 points or 2.78%. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 822.16 for a loss of 21.72 points or 2.57%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 8,204.86 for a loss of 225.97 points or 2.68%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 9,267.37 for a loss of 213.29 points or 2.25%.

Other notable Iidexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,693.68 for a loss of 35.84 points or 2.07%; the S&P 100 Index at 1,040.68 for a loss of 20.11 points or 1.90%; the Russell 3000 Index at 1,395.28 for a loss of 26.87 points or 1.89%; the Russell 1000 Index at 1,306.12 for a loss of 24.16 points or 1.82%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 643.27 for a loss of 6.59 points or 1.01%.

Start a free seven-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus.