October 10, 2018: Markets opened lower Wednesday and, barring a miracle, will close much lower. Bond yields are getting a lot of the blame–why take a risk for a 3% dividend when you can get a sure 3.2% yield on bond? On top of that, corporate borrowing costs are going up. Mortgage interest rates are back above 5% and that’s going to slow down the home-buying market where for-sale inventory is building and price increases are slowing down and, in some places, even showing signs of dropping a little. The robust U.S. economy also feeds higher bond yields.
WTI crude oil for November delivery settled at $73.17 a barrel, down 2.4% for the day. Â December gold added about 0.2% to settle at $1,193.40. Equities were heading for a lower close about 10 minutes before the bell as the Dow traded down 2.49% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 2.65%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 3.33%.
Bitcoin futures (XBTV8) for October delivery traded at $6,545, down about 0.5% on the Cboe after opening at $6,585 this morning. The trading range today was $6,445 to $6,590.
The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Wednesday was Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) which traded down 6.25% at $75.39 in a 52-week range of $50.35 to $86.04. Volume was about a third higher than the daily average of around 6.7 million shares.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded down 4.46% at $107.26. The stock’s 52-week range is $75.95 to $116.18. Volume was about 75% above the daily average of around 24.5 million.
The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) traded down 4.07% at $369.74. The 52-week range on the stock is $254.50 to $394.28. Volume was about 40% higher than the daily average of around 3.1 million. The company said this morning that it has completed its acquisition of parts supplier KLX Aerospace.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) traded down 4.06% at $136.53. The stock’s 52-week range is $106.60 to $151.56. Volume was about 50% higher than the daily average of around 7.5 million shares.
Of the Dow stocks, none was set to close higher Wednesday and all 30 were on track to close lower.
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Equity indexes traded very near the break-even line just minutes before the closing bell. The closing tally could show either a small gain or a small loss for any of the indexes.
Stocks traded very near the break-even line just minutes before the closing bell. The closing tally could finish with either a small gain or a small loss for any or all of the indexes.
Today’s four leading gainers account for more than 22% of the Dow’s price-weighted index
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