Stocks looked good in the morning, even though the data this morning wasn’t pretty. Pending Home Sales plunged 4.7% in January (massively below the 0.5% increase in sales that was expected) – this is the biggest drop since May 2010.
Fast forward to around 2:00 PM and the indices completely let it go. It was a straight line down into the close.
With today’s drop, the major indices end the month of February with losses and the DOW and S&P snap a 10-month win-streak – the longest since 1959. And with stocks finishing lower, the VIX (aka the Fear Index)closed at $19.21, highs of the week.
There really wasn’t a catalyst for today’s sell-off. But we had a lot of White House related headlines throughout the day…including President Trump taking a swing at Attorney General Jeff Sessions this morning on Twitter. And an APnew report saying “White House communications director Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump’s most loyal aides, is resigning.”
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Here’s where the major indices ended the day:
- The S&P finished with a 1.1% loss. Down 30 points, the S&P ended at 2,714.
- The DOW ended 1.5% lower. Dropping 381 points, the DOW closed at 25,029.
- The NASDAQ was down 0.8% With a 57 point loss, the NASDAQ finished at 7,273.
- Bitcoin was down 3.3%. Losing $352, Bitcoin is trading at $10,307.
Crude Oil (CL) settled lower by $1.47 to $61.55 a barrel. Crude Oil Inventories showed weaker demand than expected with 3 million barrels in U.S. stockpiles vs. the 2.4 million barrels expected.
In stock news, Celgene (CELG) was crushed this morning, closing 9.0% lower at session lows after receiving a refusal to file letter on one of its big drugs.
Spotify is filing for their IPO under the ticker SPOT (they lost $1.5 billion last year). Meanwhile, Herbalife (HLF) soared 6.3% after announcing a dutch auction and a 2-for-1 split. Papa Johns (PZZA) is done with the NFL as their main sponsor, but the stock rebounded nicely with a 2.5% gain after earnings.
Salesforce (CRM) is reporting after the close along with Mylan (MYL). Kohl’s (KSS), Best Buy (BBY), ABInBev (BUD) all reporting before the open tomorrow.
We have an active calendar with more Fed Chair testimony tomorrow. Look for Unemployment Claims and Personal Spending at 8:30am ET, followed by ISM Manufacturing PMI and Testimony from Fed Chair Powell at 10:00am ET..
Source: RockwellTrading by Markus Heitkoetter | Original Link