Stock Market News For Jun 19, 2018

The Dow and the S&P 500 declined modestly on Monday, as trade war fears once again escalated making investors jittery. However, stocks managed to end well off session lows, as energy shares helped pare losses to some extent. This saw two of the three indexes ending in the red, while the Nasdaq made modest gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell for the fifth straight session, declining 0.4%, to close at 24,987.47. The S&P 500 declined 0.2% to close at 2,773.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 7,747.03, rising 0.1%. The Nasdaq registered 172 new 52-week highs and 46 new lows. The S&P 500 logged 23 new highs and 4 new lows. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.20-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.07-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.

How did the Benchmark Perform?          

The Dow lost 103.01 points, after having hit a session low of as much as 264.71 points. Shares of Boeing BA and Caterpillar CAT declined 0.9% each. Shares of Intel Corp INTC lost 3.4%. The fifth consecutive slide for Dow is the longest such decline since a similar decline ended April 24. Caterpillar has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The S&P 500 shed 5.79 points. The Consumer Staples Sector SPDR (XLP) lost 1.5%, while the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) declined 1%. However, the Energy Sector SPDR (XLE) and the Technology Sector SPDR (XLK) gained 1% and 0.1%, respectively. The tech heavy Nasdaq gained less than a point,gaining 0.65 points.

Fears of Trade War Come Back Haunting

Fears of a trade war between the United States and China once again escalated on Monday after President Donald Trump said he wasconsidering imposing additional $200 billion tariffs on Chinese goods. The United States had announced $50 billion tariffs on Chinese goods on Friday and said that it would impose further import dutiesif China retaliates.

China, however, retaliated with $34 billion tariffs on U.S. goods, effective Jul 6.This was followed by Trump’s announcement on Monday that the U.S. would now come up with tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. This once again raised fears of a trade war, leading to huge selloffs.

However, the initial losses were pared to some extent after a rally in energy and tech stocks. Shares of Marathon Oil Corporation MRO and Occidental Petroleum Corporation OXY gained 1.7% and 0.6%, respectively.

Stocks That Made Headlines

Energy XXI to be Acquired by Cox for $322M in GoM Push

Energy XXI Gulf Coast, Inc. EGC recently inked a deal, per which privately held Dallas-based operator Cox Oil Offshore LLC will acquire the former.  (Read More)

Ryder (R) Expands Fleet Management With Metro Truck Buyout

Ryder System, Inc. R recently completed the acquisition of Metro Truck & Tractor Leasing (Metro). (Read More)

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Ryder System, Inc. (R) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Boeing Company (BA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Intel Corporation (INTC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Energy XXI Gulf Coast, Inc. (EGC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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