24/7 Wall St.

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.  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.

24/7 Wall St.
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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