Staples (
SPLS
),Joy Global (
JOY
) andCliffs Natural Resources (
CLF
) supplied the biggest losses in the S&P 500 Tuesday.
SPDR S&P 500 (
SPY
) skidded 0.94% to 144.28 to trade in the red for a third-day
straight.
PowerShares QQQ (
QQQ
), tracking the 100 largest nonfinancial stocks on the Nasdaq,
sank 1.17% to 68.92, taking losses for a fourth day in a row.
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) eased 0.64% to
134.45.
All are still trading near multiyear highs and remain high
above their moving averages, which is very bullish.
Shares of Staples, the largest U.S. office supply retailer,
clipped off 5.3% as it fell deeper below its 50- and 200-day
moving averages, a very bearish development. Staples announced
it's shutting down 30 stores in North America and downsizing 30
more to cut costs by about $250 million a year by the end of 2015
amid slowing economic growth.
It's taking a pretax charge of up to $1.12 billion from
depreciating assets in Europe and the costs of closing down
stores. It plans to close 45 stores in Europe.
Mining equipment maker Joy Global crashed 5% after
competitorCaterpillar (CAT) lowered its forecasts for the next
few years citing an "anemic" global economy.
Coal and iron ore producer, Cliffs of Cleveland, Ohio, fell
4%. It's been in a steady downtrend since February and trades
deep below its 50- and 200-day moving averages. Cliff is down 37%
year to date and 30% in the past year. Basic materials prices
tumbled this year because of oversupply in China and slower
global economic growth.
"The struggles in metallurgical coal are further compounded by
increasing supply and competition between Australian suppliers
and Mongolian suppliers," said Paul Robinson, senior economist at
market research firm IHS in Washington D.C. "Up until a couple of
years ago, Australia was pretty much the only game in town in the
Pacific basin, but now there has been an explosion of overland
imports from Mongolia into China and some inroads oversea from
the United States. Just as in the case of steel markets, demand
isn't strong enough to absorb this excess supply and prices are
responding likewise."
Follow Trang Ho on Twitter
@TrangHoETFs
.