January 7, 2016: Markets opened lower again on Thursday following the second trading halt this week on China’s stock exchanges. The impact of the Chinese action fell hard on crude oil and sent the black stuff to lows not seen in a decade. It’s not a sure thing that tomorrow’s report on non-farm payrolls, which is expected to be somewhat below the November report, will be able to pull equities back up. WTI crude oil for February delivery traded down about 2.1% today to settle at $33.27, after touching an early morning low of $32.10. Gold for February delivery traded higher by 1.5% to settle at $1,107.80 for the day, a fifth consecutive higher daily close. Equities were headed for a lower close shortly before the closing bell as the DJIA traded down 2.15% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 2.16%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 2.70%.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Thursday was The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) which traded down 4.17% at $133.04. The stock’s 52-week range is $115.14 to $158.83. Volume was about 60% above the daily average of around 3.5 million shares traded. Investors ignored the record number of deliveries Boeing reported for 2015 today.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) traded down 3.97% at $29.05. The stock’s 52-week range is $19.37 to $31.49. Trading volume was more than 30% lower than the daily average of around 92 million. The industrial giant was hit with selling after reporting that it had divested $157 billion in assets during 2015.
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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) traded down 3.6% at $97.08. The stock’s 52-week range is $92.00 to $134.54. Trading volume was more than 50% higher than the daily average of about 44 million. The company continues to suffer from reports that surfaced earlier this week on falling iPhone sales.
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD) traded down 3.42% at $61.22. The stock’s 52-week range is $47.11 to $76.59. Trading volume was about equal to the daily average of around 6.3 million. The company had no specific news today.
Of the Dow 30 stocks 29 are set to close lower today and just 1 (Walmart) is on track to close higher.
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