February 5, 2018: Markets opened lower for a third consecutive session on Monday and the daily loss is on track to be worse than Friday’s 666-pointer. Only two Dow stocks traded in the green with about half an hour to go before the closing bell. The dollar gained a bit against the euro, and bond yields even fell. Monday’s drop may be down to heightened inflation fears or programmed trades that began feeding off each other. Or something else.
WTI crude oil for March delivery settled at $64.15 a barrel, down 2% for the day. April gold dropped less than 0.1% on the day to settle at $1,336.50. Equities were headed for a lower close shortly before the bell as the DJIA traded down 3.76% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 3.18%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 2.67%.
Bitcoin futures for February delivery traded at $7,320, down more than 19% on the CBOE after opening at $8,450 this morning. The digital currency’s trading range for the day was $6,600 to $8,460.The price has dropped more than 50% in the past month and nearly 50% since the futures trade was launched.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Monday was Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) which traded down 6.01% at $111.45. The stock’s 52-week range is $102.55 to $133.88. Volume was about double the daily average of around 5.6 million. The company had no specific news, but last Friday’s earnings disappointment continued to send investors out the door Monday.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) traded down 5.78% at $79.64. The stock’s 52-week range is $76.05 to $89.30. Volume was more than double the daily average of around 11 million shares. Like Chevron, Exxon reported results last Friday that did not live up to expectations.
3M Company (NYSE: MMM) traded down 5.05%% at $232.79. The stock’s 52-week range is $173.90 to $259.77. Volume was around 4.8 million shares, more than double the daily average of about 2 million. The company had no specific news.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) traded down 4.76%% at $131.12. The stock’s 52-week range is $112.62 to $148.32. Volume was approaching three times the daily average of around 6.3 million shares. The company had no specific news Monday.
Of the Dow stocks, none is on track to close higher Monday and all 30 are set to close lower.
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