Stock ETFs sold off across the board Thursday on disappointing
U.S. employment and housing reports, along with weak Chinese
manufacturing and signs of economic stagnations in the euro
zone.
Market Overview
In afternoon trade, theSPDR S&P 500 (
SPY
) fell 0.75% but in low volume, which makes for a healthy
pullback.
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (
DIA
) plunged 0.84%.
PowerShares QQQ (
QQQ
), a basket of the 100 largest nonfinancial stocks on the Nasdaq,
declined 0.66%.
SPY is on track to post its first weekly decline after a
six-week winning run.
"This is due, in part, to global concerns that European
leaders are simply not making progress towards solving their
region's debt crisis," said Elle Kaplan, CEO and co-founder of
Lexion Capital Management in New York.
Other market strategists believe investors are taking profits
after a run-up, which is normal.
"That being said, there are still plenty of good buying
opportunities, especially in individual equities," said Cort
Meinelschmidt, CEO and chief investment officer at Sentinel
Capital Solutions in Hagerstown, Md.
The loss on the Dow "ain't nothing but a shrimp fin caught in
the throat... (you) just gotta cough it up," said John Graves, a
registered investment adviser and managing partner at The
Renaissance Group with $480 million in assets in Ventura, Calif.
He's also author of "The 7% Solution," a book about retirement
planning. He advises that investors should buy when everyone is
selling.
"The most despised rally since 2007 is just taking a
breather," said Keith Newcomb, portfolio manager at Full Life
Financial in Nashville, Tenn. "Rallies are hated, and tops are
eagerly called when too many investors are on the sidelines."
IShares MSCI EAFE Index (
EFA
), tracking developed foreign markets, dropped 0.59%.
IShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (
EEM
) skidded 0.92%.
"The market has taken a brief respite from the troubles in
Europe over the past several weeks," said David Houle, a
chartered financial analysts at Season Investments in Colorado
Springs, Colo. "September and October will bring Europe back into
the limelight, and headlines over the past day or two have
reminded investors what is at stake and how difficult the
situation will be to resolve."
Economic Reports
Jobless claims
rose by 4,000 for a second week to reach 372,000 in the period
ended Aug. 18, Labor Department figures showed today in
Washington. The number of Americans filing applications for
unemployment benefits climbed last week to a one-month high,
showing little progress in the labor market.
New-home sales
rose 3.6% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
372,000, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That's the same
as in May, which was the highest since April 2010. But the number
of sales remain sharply below the annual pace of 700,000 that
economists consider healthy. In the past 12 months, sales have
jumped 25% from a historically low level.
Chinese manufacturing
fell in August for the 10th month in a row, owing to a slowdown
in exports and real estate investments.
Eurozone economic data
showed the region is sliding further into recession. The eurozone
Purchasing Managers' Index shows the economy there shrinking
about 0.5% in the July-September quarter, according to
Markit.
Follow Trang Ho on Twitter
@TrangHoETFs
.