US close: Stocks in repose on Veterans Day
A thinly traded Veterans Day session ended with US stock markets bowing down at the closing bell as a retreating crude price weighed on the oil majors.
Despite the major indices opening higher and enjoying a mid-session charge on the back of encouragement from Asia and Europe, by the closing bell the Dow Jones packed up its troubles 0.32% lower at 17,702.22, while the S&P 500 slid 0.32% to 2,075 and the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.1% to 4,636.94.
West Texas Intermediate slumped 2.7% to $43 a barrel, while Brent crude fell 3.25% to $45.9/bbl, sending the likes of Chevron and Exxon lower. The dollar gave up some ground in most of its major pairs.
Earlier, most Asian equity markets advanced on Wednesday, as investors took the positives from a batch of mixed data from China.
Official figures showed industrial production in the world’s second largest economy grew 5.6% year-on-year in October, compared with a 5.7% gain in the previous month and with analysts’ expectations for a 5.8% reading.
Following this, Wall Street initially appeared to have moved on from last week’s wobbles before taking a breather as the session wore on.
“Markets have finally priced in Friday’s nonfarm payrolls surprise and the potential for a more hawkish Fed,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.
In company news, drink giants Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller gained 1% and 2.05%, after the latter accepted a $106bn takeover offer, as it agreed to sell its 58% stake in the MillerCoors LLC joint venture to its partner Molson Coors Brewing, whose shares gained 0.26%.
Supermarket chain Kroger gained after confirming it has agreed to takeover grocery chain Roundy in a deal worth $800m.
Elsewhere in retail giant Macy's tumbled 11.7% after lowering its full year outlook as sales fell short of estimates.
Sector behemoth Wal-Mart also declined as its workers planned a 15-day fasting campaign to lobby for $15 an hour minimum-pay deal.
General Electric was buzzing higher after it and Alstom won two contracts worth $5.6bn to supply new locomotives to Indian Railways.
Alibaba declined 1.79% even though the Chinese e-commerce giant posted record sales for China Singles’ Day.
An initial crunch on Apple stock was a weight on the indices, falling more than 1.2% in the first hour, before tracking back higher during the session.
S&P 500 - Risers
Xerox Corp. (XRX) $10.25 +6.55%
Adt Corp (ADT) $33.99 +4.42%
Molson Coors Brewing Co. Class B (TAP) $92.19 +4.39%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $32.02 +2.79%
Allegion (ALLE) $65.01 +2.65%
Motorola Solutions Inc (MSI) $70.02 +2.46%
FirstEnergy Corp. (FE) $30.20 +2.44%
PPL Corp. (PPL) $33.99 +2.13%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $34.57 +2.10%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $673.25 +2.06%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Macy's Inc. (M) $40.44 -13.99%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $17.30 -7.88%
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) $20.88 -7.77%
Keurig Green Mountain Inc (GMCR) $46.24 -7.59%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $26.59 -7.38%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $6.54 -7.37%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $7.57 -7.34%
Apache Corp. (APA) $49.40 -7.33%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $10.64 -6.91%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $30.03 -6.54%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
General Electric Co. (GE) $30.67 +1.83%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $67.00 +0.99%
3M Co. (MMM) $159.05 +0.93%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $42.04 +0.65%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $113.85 +0.56%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $45.32 +0.49%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $101.86 +0.40%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $114.38 +0.29%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $53.65 +0.26%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $75.96 +0.25%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Nike Inc. (NKE) $127.42 -1.98%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $57.58 -1.87%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $53.72 -1.30%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $114.54 -1.16%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $92.19 -1.12%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $32.86 -1.05%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $81.62 -0.89%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $116.52 -0.77%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $71.91 -0.72%
American Express Co. (AXP) $72.91 -0.63%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Discovery Communications Inc. Class C (DISCK) $29.22 +2.35%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $34.42 +2.17%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $34.57 +2.10%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $673.25 +2.06%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $49.35 +1.96%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $30.61 +1.83%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $79.74 +1.77%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $199.49 +1.27%
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) $219.08 +1.19%
Sba Communications Corp. (SBAC) $106.90 +1.12%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Keurig Green Mountain Inc (GMCR) $46.24 -7.59%
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) $57.05 -4.20%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $84.90 -4.10%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $48.51 -2.85%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $106.15 -2.76%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $32.43 -2.70%
Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $3.49 -2.24%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $65.80 -2.16%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $44.49 -2.09%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $81.82 -2.05%