The major market averages are mostly lower at midday on Tuesday as early gains tied to market-friendly inflation data unravelled following more White House departures and a steep sell-off in oil futures.
Wall Street was waiting for this morning's consumer price index to confirm bullish inflationary data in Friday's non-farm payroll report. Both the nominal and core CPI increased an as-expected 0.2%, giving stock futures a push higher into the open.
Selling erupted, however, after President Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a second high-profile White House exit in less than a week. Selling was briefly suspended on news pro-trade advocate Larry Kudlow was at the top of the list for economic advisor Gary Cohn's job, but resumed as the S&P 500 hit 2,800 and as oil futures turned lower.
Crude oil was down $0.85 to $60.51 per barrel. Natural gas was up $0.01 to $2.79 per 1 million BTU. Gold was up $5.70 to $1,326.70 an ounce, while silver was up $0.07 to $16.61 an ounce. Copper was up $0.01 to $3.13 per pound.
Among energy ETFs, the United States Oil Fund was down 1.13% to $12.23 with the United States Natural Gas Fund was down 0.13% to $23.18. Amongst precious-metal funds, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF was down 0.12% to 21.66 while SPDR Gold Shares were up 0.22% to $125.82. The iShares Silver Trust was up 0.22% to $15.64.
Here's where the markets stand at mid-day:
U.S. MARKETS
NYSE Composite Index was down 31.74 points (-0.25%) to 12,866.66
Dow Jones Industrial Index was down 18.00 points (-0.07%) to 25,160.61
S&P 500 was down 7.04 points (-0.25%) to 2,775.98
Nasdaq Composite Index was down 46.24 points (-0.59%) to 7,543.10
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
FTSE 100 was down 79.10 points (-1.10%) to 7,135.66
DAX was down 218.53 points (-1.76%) to 12,199.86
CAC 40 was down 45.74 points (-0.87%) to 5,230.97
Nikkei 225 was up 144.07 points (+0.66%) to 21,968.10
Hang Seng Index was up 7.12 points (+0.02%) to 31,601.45
Shanghai China Composite Index was down 15.42 points (-0.46%) to 3,311.28
NYSE SECTOR INDICES
NYSE Energy Sector Index was down 18.07 points (-0.17%) to 10,835.44
NYSE Financial Sector Index was down 34.35 points (-0.41%) to 8,379.49
NYSE Healthcare Sector Index was up 46.14 points (+0.32%) to 14,664.00
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) SPEX (+74.25%) To enter cyber security market via DatChat acquisition
(+) PTI (+53.62%) Gets FDA breakthrough therapy designation for PTI-428
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) CVGI (+22.57%) Reported downbeat Q4 results
(-) ADXS (-17.19%) Clinical hold placed on axalimogene filolisbac phase ½ combination study with AstraZeneca's ( AZN ) IMFINZI
(-) QCOM (-4.39%) Proposed buyout by Broadcom gets blocked by Trump
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Copyright (C) 2016 MTNewswires.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
