September 8, 2016: Markets opened lower Thursday after European Central Bank president Draghi maintained current ECB policy and said that further expansion of the bank’s asset purchase plan did not seem appropriate. Consumer stocks, both staples and discretionary, sank today as did the tech sector. Energy stocks rose on lower than expected builds in crude and natural gas inventories. WTI crude oil for October delivery settled at $47.60 a barrel, up 4.7% for the day. December gold closed down 0.6% on the day to settle at $1,341.60. Equities were headed for a lower close shortly before the bell as the DJIA traded down by 0.24% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.19%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.44%.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Thursday was Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) which traded down 2.66% at $105.48. The stock’s 52-week range is $89.47 to $123.82. Trading volume was about 35% above the daily average of around 32.4 million. Wednesday’s iPhone 7 and Watch Series 2 introductions didn’t drum up much enthusiasm among investors. Then Apple said this morning that it already knows that supply won’t demand for the weekend’s pre-orders.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) traded down 2.55% at $56.25. The stock’s 52-week range is $51.48 to $68.19. Volume was about 5% below the daily average of around 9.5 million shares. The company’s stock was downgraded at Piper Jaffray this morning.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) traded down 1.63% at $159.01. The stock’s 52-week range is $116.90 to $164.95. Volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 3.3 million shares. The company had no specific news Thursday.
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The Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) traded down 1.42% at $117.00. The stock’s 52-week range is $97.18 to $119.32. Volume was about equal to the daily average of around 1.37 million shares. The company had no specific news.
Of the 30 Dow index stocks 11 are on track to close higher Thursday and 19 are set to close lower.
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