Recapping the Dow’s four-day, 700-point dip
Stocks may be moving higher Friday, but that was masking what has been a very negative week for U.S. equities.
Through Thursday’s close, the three major U.S. stock market indexes, the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, were poised for their first down week in three, with the Dow taking a particularly hard hit.
Ahead of the market open Friday, the Dow was poised for a 700-point drop. Boeing alone accounted for about one quarter of the Dow’s losses while Apple and Goldman Sachs were also major drags on the index. The three together combined to account for 405 points of the 700-point decline.
A bright sector in the markets this week was transportation stocks, which were buoyed by oil’s retreat. Oil fell to a one-year low this week, amid indications that the oil market remains well supplied. Oil climbed earlier in the year on the sentiment that the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran would remove a significant amount of supply from the market. However, it appears that other producers have more than made up for lower Iranian crude stock.
Things were bumpy overseas this week, with the resignation of key U.K. cabinet members adding to the difficulty in coming up with a concrete deal.
On Friday, the 10-year Treasury yield fell to a near three-week low after a Federal Reserve official said that U.S. interest rates are nearing the central bank’s estimates of a neutral rate. In an interview with CNBC, Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said he doesn’t think the Fed has been too aggressive with its rate hikes.
In commodities, oil was little changed. The commodity was hard hit this week, falling about 7 percent in one session.