24/7 Wall St.

July 3, 2018: Markets opened higher Tuesday but as the closing bell got nearer selling became the order of the day. Tech and financial stocks weakened while energy and telecoms added strength. Light volumes and the shortened trading day for equities also contributed to the market’s lackluster performance.

WTI crude oil for August delivery traded at $73.73 a barrel, down about 0.3% on the day. August gold traded up 1% at $1,254.30. Equities were closed lower as the Dow traded down 0.54% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.49%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.86%.

Bitcoin futures (XBTN8) for July delivery traded at $6,580, down 0.7% on the CBOE after opening at $6,645 this morning. The trading range today was $6,530 to $6,660. Futures trading may be responsible for the steep decline in bitcoin prices since the beginning of this year. https://247wallst.com/banking-finance/2018/07/03/how-futures-trading-put-an-end-to-bitcoins-skyrocketing-price/

The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Tuesday was Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) which traded down 2.63% to close at $76.29. The 52-range on the stock is $50.35 to $81.00. Volume of around 5.8 million was about 15% below the daily average of 6.9 million. The company had no specific news.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) traded down 1.75% to close at $133.90. The stock’s 52-week range is $105.11 to $173.24. Volume was about 65% below the daily average of around 4.7 million shares. The company had no specific news.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) traded down 1.74% at $183.92. The stock’s 52-week range is $142.41 to $194.20. Volume was about half the daily average of around 28 million. The company had no specific news.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) traded down 1.45% at $49.47 in a 52-week range of $33.23 to $57.60. Volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 27.3 million shares. The company had no specific news.

Of the Dow stocks, 11 are closed higher Tuesday and 19 closed lower.