MARKET SNAPSHOT: S&P 500 Set To Claw Back From Worst Start To Thanksgiving Week In Nearly 40 Years
November 21 2018 - 7:13AM
Dow Jones News
By Mark DeCambre, MarketWatch
Dow has shed 950 points over the past two sessions
U.S. stock indexes Wednesday were poised to recapture some of
the ugly losses accumulated over the past two sessions on the back
of a persistent rout in once-highflying tech stocks and declines in
oil.
U.S. financial markets will be closed Thursday for the
Thanksgiving Day holiday
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/which-markets-are-closed-on-thanksgiving-2018-11-20)and
see an early close Friday.
How are benchmarks performing?
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 115 points,
or 0.5%, at 24,555. S&P 500 futures were up 14.60 points, or
0.6%, at 2,654.50, while Nasdaq-100 futures advanced 52.75 points
to reach 6,586.25, a climb of 0.8%.
On Tuesday, the Dow fell 551.8 points, or 2.2%, to end at
24,465.64, and tumbled by as many as 648 points at the session's
lows. The S&P 500 index closed with a loss of 48.84 points, or
1.8%, at 2,641.9, while the Nasdaq Composite Indexshed 119.65
points to 6,908.82, a drop of 1.7%.
Tuesday's decline erased year-to-date gains for both the Dow and
S&P 500, while the Nasdaq now clings to a 0.1% advance for
2018. Month to date, the Nasdaq has fallen 5.4%, the S&P and
Dow have retreated 2.6% in November.
Read:Why share buybacks aren't the stock market's safety net
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-share-buybacks-didnt-come-to-the-stock-markets-rescue-in-november-2018-11-20)
According to Dow Jones Market Data, the Monday-to-Tuesday
descent for the S&P 500 is the worst since 1982, the ugliest
since 1994 for the Dow and the steepest for the Nasdaq since
2000.
What's driving the market?
U.S. investors were hoping for a respite to close out the worst
start to Thanksgiving week in decades, with fears about valuations
of technology and internet-related stocks, sluggish growth, policy
errors by the Federal Reserve and uncertainty about trade relations
between the U.S. and China swirling in investors' minds.
Contributing some early upward momentum to the energy sector
were modest gains in crude-oil prices, with data released Tuesday
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/api-data-reportedly-show-an-unexpected-decline-in-us-crude-supplies-2018-11-20)
momentarily alleviating growing worries about global oversupply,
which has driven U.S. benchmark oil deep into bear-market
territory, defined as a decline of a at least 20% from a recent
peak.
Looking ahead, investors will digest a bevy of economic reports
to gauge the health of the domestic economy after a series of
reports of the housing market
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/home-builder-confidence-tumbles-the-most-since-2014-as-housing-headwinds-catch-up-2018-11-19)has
reinforced the view that increases to benchmark interest rates are
eroding confidence in the housing industry.
What are strategists saying?
"America's battered equity markets are limping towards the
Thanksgiving holiday with precious little to be thankful for,"
wrote JR Zhou, chief market strategist at broker Infinox, in a
Wednesday note.
He said the realization "that the strength of America's domestic
economy is being rendered increasingly irrelevant by the continued
weakness of its trading partners, and "the Federal Reserve's hawks
risk becoming an albatross," are weighing on market sentiment and
contributing to volatile markets.
Which data are ahead?
What stock are in focus
Deere & Co. (DE) shares were falling in premarket trade
after the equipment maker reported disappointing quarterly profits.
Shares were down 2.7% before the bell.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 21, 2018 06:58 ET (11:58 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.