Energy, financials pull stocks down ahead of Biden-Trump debate
September is on pace to be a down month for US stocks
Stocks fell Tuesday in a choppy session ahead of the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Financials and energy paced the overall drop as the S&P 500 slipped 0.48%, as did the Dow Jones Industrials.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 43870.35 | +461.88 | +1.06% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5948.71 | +31.60 | +0.53% |
| XLE | ENERGY SELECT SECTOR SPDR ETF | 97.14 | +0.76 | +0.78% |
| XLF | FINANCIAL SELECT SECTOR SPDR ETF | 50.18 | +0.63 | +1.27% |
While the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.28% with Micron and Dell limiting the losses driven by big tech such as Apple and Amazon.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 18972.420086 | +6.28 | +0.03% |
| MU | MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC. | 102.76 | +4.39 | +4.46% |
| DELL | DELL TECHNOLOGIES INC. | 138.92 | +4.96 | +3.70% |
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 228.52 | -0.48 | -0.21% |
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 198.38 | -4.50 | -2.22% |
Investors appear eager for the presidential debate, being moderated by Fox News' Chris Wallace, which will give voters the first chance to see the two candidates face off while focusing on a number of topics, including the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and racial unrest in the country.
Late Monday night, deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic surpassed 1 million globally, including 200,000 in the U.S. This as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a distribution plan for Abbott Labs' test for the virus.
Despite the drop in equities, two strong economic data reports came in. Consumer Confidence soared during September to a reading of 101.8 blowing past estimates of 88.5.
While home sales remained strong confirmed by the S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index for July which jumped 3.9% beating the 0.3% estimate. Phoenix, Seattle and Charlotte reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 19 cities.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XHB | SPDR® S&P® HOMEBUILDERS ETF - USD DIS | 117.91 | +1.36 | +1.17% |
DOW JUMPS 410 POINTS AS TECH, FINANCIALS PACE GAINS
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABT | ABBOTT LABORATORIES | 117.26 | +1.33 | +1.15% |
Separately on Monday, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi unveiled a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill to help the economy which has been negatively impacted by the pandemic. The relief package is intended to "avert catastrophe for schools, small businesses, restaurants, performance spaces, airline workers and others."
The negotiations continued Tuesday as detailed in a tweet from a Pelosi spokesperson.
Mnuchin is slated to hold discussions with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel and Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, FOX Business reported. A follow-up call responding to Pelosi is planned for tomorrow.
In corporate news, Amazon unveiled its latest attempt to take on the mobile payments market, with Amazon One. The technology, first rolling out in Amazon's home market of Seattle, will use palm recognition technology to turn people's hands into a credit card.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 198.38 | -4.50 | -2.22% |
The news comes one day after the Jeff Bezos-led company officially announced its annual “Prime Day” shopping event, set to start to Oct. 13.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMT | WALMART INC. | 88.38 | +1.19 | +1.36% |
| BYND | BEYOND MEAT INC. | 5.01 | -0.14 | -2.72% |
Walmart and Beyond Meat agreed to a broader distribution deal with the nation's largest retailer on track "to triple availability of the Beyond Burger from approximately 800 locations to more than 2,400 stores nationwide beginning next week" Beyond Meat detailed in a statement.
In other food news, Papa Johns reported strong September sales with a jump of 18.4% for North American shops.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PZZA | PAPA JOHN'S INTERNATIONAL INC. | 47.86 | +0.55 | +1.16% |
Japanese telecom company NTT announced a $40 billion merger for the remaining portion of NTT DoCoMo that it does not already own, according to Reuters.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPM | JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. | 244.94 | +4.14 | +1.72% |
JPMorgan Inc. shares declined after the company agreed to pay $920 million in fines and admitted wrongdoing after the bank admitted it manipulated metals futures and Treasury trading over an eight-year period, Bloomberg reported.
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The yield on the 10-Year Treasury dipped to 0.644%, the fifth drop in the past seven trading days.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude was little changed at $39.29 per barrel.
European markets were lower in Tuesday trading, with the FTSE 100 and DAX closing lower by 0.4%.
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Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this story.