Stocks have moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday, although selling pressure has remained relatively subdued. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index has slumped by 4.5 percent to its lowest intraday level in nearly two months.
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In futures trading today, the Dow Jones is up around six points; the Nasdaq is up over four and the S&P500 gained 1.5. “Since EPS trends have typically been associated with S&P 500 index patterns, a sharper-than-expected uptick in profits would be a necessary prerequisite for additional upside”.
Housing data from the National Association of Realtors missed the mark too, with sales of existing USA homes falling 3.2% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.39m, missing expectations for a much smaller drop of 0.4%.
Trading volume was very light, as it has been all month.
At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded at $46.76 a barrel, a 2.8 percent decline, while worldwide benchmark Brent crude saw a 2 percent loss to hit $48.98.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.55 per cent.
Mining and materials stocks also fell early Monday as the prices of copper and other metals decline.
Oil prices fell more than 2 percent, retreating from last week’s two-month highs, on worries about burgeoning Chinese fuel exports, more Iraqi and Nigerian crude shipments and a rising US oil rig count.
Syngenta’s USA -listed shares SYT.N rose almost 10.5 percent after a US national security panel cleared ChemChina’s $43 billion takeover of the Swiss pesticides and seeds group.
By the close the Dow Jones had ticked up 0.1% to 18,547.
The S&P 500 index showed 11 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 81 new highs and 15 new lows. The Nasdaq composite slipped 7 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,231.
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Gains for equities came as most global stock-market benchmarks headed higher and as crude-oil prices extended Monday’s losses.
