Weighed down by losses in the industrial sector, namely Dow component stock Boeing ( BA ), the blue chip index has surrendered all of its earlier gains and is trading more than 100 points lower as Wall Street books profits from last Friday's 400+ point rally with profit-taking exacerbated by resistance in the Dow at 25,500 and at 2,800 for the S&P 500.
Stocks were trending higher before the open in extension of Friday's rally unleashed by friendly labor market data. Emboldened by signs of limited wage inflation, watered-down trade tariffs and a warmer relationship between the US and North Korea, Wall Street's major averages were briefly trading higher, led by gains in component stocks Apple ( AAPL ) and Goldman Sachs ( GS ), both of which set record highs at the open.
Corresponding with the move lower in equities was an elevated volatility index (VIX) which perked up from 15.25 at the open to a session high of 16.35, along with the yield on the 10-year note inching closer to 2.90%. This level has, in the past, been the catalyst for selling pressure on equities amid fears of higher borrowing costs.
In corporate news, Goldman Sachs set a record high following reports that COO David Solomon has been positioned to eventually succeed CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Rumors started circulating late last week that Blankfein was planning to step down later this year.
Shares of Neflix ( NFLX ) retreated from its record high at the open and dropped 2% from Friday's close after Citron Research issued a recommendation to short the stock "back to $300," a 10% correction from Monday's high. Netflix is the outlier to Monday's performance of FAANG stocks, of which Amazon ( AMZN ), Apple ( AAPL ) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) all set record highs, contributing to solid gains in the technology sector and a record high in the Nasdaq.
Crude oil was down $1.17 to $60.87 per barrel. Natural gas was up $0.06 to $2.80 per 1 million BTU. Gold was down $4.60 to $1,319.30 an ounce, while silver was down $0.10 to $16.50 an ounce. Copper was down $0.01 to $3.12 per pound.
Among energy ETFs, the United States Oil Fund was down 1.45% to $12.28 with the United States Natural Gas Fund was up 2.57% to $23.32. Amongst precious-metal funds, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF was down 0.21% to 21.52 while SPDR Gold Shares were down 0.40% to $125.03. The iShares Silver Trust was down 0.54% to $15.54.
Here's where the markets stand at mid-day:
US MARKETS
NYSE Composite Index was down 21.40 points (-0.17%) to 12,896.93
Dow Jones Industrial Index was down 98.54 points (-0.39%) to 25,237.20
S&P 500 was down 1.62 points (-0.06%) to 2,785.61
Nasdaq Composite Index was up 41.91 points (+0.55%) to 7,602.69
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
FTSE 100 was down 16.69 points (-0.23%) to 7,207.82
DAX was up 65.76 points (+0.53%) to 12,412.44
CAC 40 was down 0.41 points (-0.01%) to 5,273.99
Nikkei 225 was up 354.83 points (+1.65%) to 21,824.03
Hang Seng Index was up 598.12 points (+1.93%) to 31,594.33
Shanghai China Composite Index was up 19.16 points (+0.58%) to 3,326.33
NYSE SECTOR INDICES
NYSE Energy Sector Index was down 17.46 points (+0.16%) to 10,828.71
NYSE Financial Sector Index was down 11.90 points (-0.14%) to 8,410.32
NYSE Healthcare Sector Index was down 19.81 points (-0.14%) to 16,646.26
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) BXC (+83.98%) Acquiring building products wholesale distributor Cedar Creek for $413 million
(+) OCLR (+27.07%) To be acquired by Lumentum (LITE) for $1.8 billion
(+) PRKR (+20.06%) Received a favorable venue ruling in patent infringement case against Qualcomm (QCOM) and Apple ( AAPL )
(+) IMMP (+18.03%) Entered into clinical collaboration and supply agreement with Merck (MRK)
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) ANTH (-81.32%) Terminated development of Sollpura after failed late-stage study
(-) OREX (-74.64%) Announced plans for a sale using structured process
(-) DECK (-7.13%) Marcato Capital Management sold its holdings
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
