U.S. stocks took a shellacking on Friday after the historic UK
referendum to leave the European Union triggered a feeding frenzy
across global financial markets and chased investors into the
safety of gold and the Japanese yen. Although Europe was hardest
hit, the Nikkei hemorrhaged by 8% while the Euro Stoxx 50 fell by
nearly 9%.
There was a sea of red across Wall Street as well with every
sector of the S&P 500 negative, especially financial stocks,
which bore the brunt of Friday's selling. Even defensive sectors
like utilities and telecoms were lower with U.S. Treasury yields
falling by close to 2 basis points.
The surprise events in the UK and global fallout eclipsed
Friday's bearish U.S. economic data. May durable goods orders were
down 2.2%, missing estimates for a more modest decline of 0.7%.
Excluding transportation orders, durable goods orders fell 0.3%
versus the consensus estimate to remain unchanged.
Additionally, consumer sentiment deteriorated slightly as the
index from the University of Michigan fell to 93.5 from 94.3,
missing the estimated 94.0.
Here's where the markets stand at the close:
US MARKETS
Dow Jones Industrial Index was down 611.21 points (-3.39%)
S&P 500 was down 76.02 points (-3.60%)
Nasdaq Composite Index was down was down 202.06 points
(-4.12%)
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
FTSE 100 was down 3.15%
Nikkei 225 was down 7.92%
Hang Seng Index was up down 2.92%
Shanghai China Composite Index was down 1.30%
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) SKUL (+23.08%) To be acquired by Incipio for $5.75 per
share
(+) FINL (+21.80%) Fiscal Q1 tops estimates
(+) EMES (+13.47%) Sells fuels business units to SU for $178.5
million
(+) STAF (+10.53%) Increases FY sales estimates 28% to $165
million
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) LGY (-2.27%), SAN (-20.21%), UBS (-13.35%) EU banks tumble
in wake of UK referendum to leave European Union
(-) PBR (-6.52%) Discloses $6.8 billion pension plan deficit
(-) RYAAY (-4.35%) Boosts buyback plan by EUR100 million, shares
slump on Brexit vote