Intel, Caterpillar Sink the Dow Friday
August 10, 2018 by Paul AusickAugust 10, 2018: Markets opened lower Friday, and none of the three major indexes even came close to the break-even line all day. The U.S. doubling of tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum sent the country’s currency into a tailspin. The dollar gained as much a 15% against the Turkish lira in FX markets today. Investors are not so worried about what happens in Turkey but are increasingly worried that somewhere, sometime, U.S. trade policies are going to have a serious effect on the global economy. Materials and financials were the worst performing sectors on a day when none posted a gain.
WTI crude oil for September delivery settled at $67.63 a barrel, up 1.2% for the day to close the week down 1.3%. December gold dropped 90 cents to settle at $1,219.00 and close the week down 0.3%. Equities were heading for a solidly lower close about 10 minutes before the bell as the Dow traded down 0.83% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.76%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.69%.
Bitcoin futures (XBTQ8) for August delivery traded at $6,380, down about 1.5% on the CBOE after opening at $6,555 this morning. The trading range today was $6,295 to $6,615.
The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Friday was Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) which traded down 2.57% at $48.85. The stock’s 52-week range is $34.38 to $57.60. Volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 25.2 million shares.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) traded down 1.84% at $135.96. The 52-range on the stock is $112.69 to $173.24. Volume of around 5.2 million was about 25% above the daily average.
DowDuPont Inc. (NYSE: DWDP) traded down 1.67% at $67.87. The stock’s 52-week range is $61.27 to $77.08. Volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 7.5 million.
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) traded down 1.63% at $229.98 in a 52-week range of $214.64 to $275.31. Volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 2.5 million shares.
Of the Dow stocks, only 4 were set to close higher Friday, and 26 were on track to close lower.
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