February 29, 2016: Markets opened lower on Monday before rising to intra-day highs at around noon, and then dipping to a loss by mid-afternoon. Healthcare and energy stocks were the biggest losers today even though oil prices were higher. The dollar weakened against the yen and rose against the euro. Near the end of the trading day only utilities are trading with a gain. WTI crude oil for April delivery settled at $33.75 a barrel, up about 3% on the day but up less than 1% for the month. April gold added 1.2% to settle at $1,234.40 for the day and posted a gain of 10.5% for the month of February. Equities were headed for a lower close shortly before the closing bell as the DJIA traded down 0.50% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.49%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.36%.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Monday was Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) which traded down 1.87% at $29.67. The stock’s 52-week range is $28.25 to $36.46. Trading volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 37 million. The company had no specific news today.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) traded down 1.67% at $56.58. The stock’s 52-week range is $50.07 to $70.61. Volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 20.4 million shares traded. The big bank had no specific news today.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) traded down 1.60% at $80.43. The stock’s 52-week range is $66.55 to $90.09. Trading volume was about 35% below the daily average of around 18.5 million. Bloomberg reported this morning that the energy supermajor is planning to raise $12 billion in the company’s largest-ever bond offering.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) traded down 1.42% at $119.61. The stock’s 52-week range is $95.00 to $126.21. Volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 3.8 million shares. The company also had no specific news today, and the healthcare sector was today’s worst performer.
Of the Dow 30 stocks 21 are set to close lower today and 9 are on track to close higher.
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