Stocks take a breather to end month and quarter
The Gartman Letter publisher Dennis Gartman and Kadina Group president Gary B. Smith discuss the state of the U.S. markets and what may rattle investors.
Stocks ended the final day of the third quarter and month little changed despite declines in shares of Facebook and Tesla.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 41794.6 | -257.59 | -0.61% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5712.69 | -16.11 | -0.28% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 18179.984429 | -59.93 | -0.33% |
Late Friday, Facebook dropped over 2 percent after disclosing 50 million accounts were breached. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on a call, said the company is working with the FBI. In company news, Tesla shares fell nearly 14 percent premarket after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit Thursday against CEO Elon Musk. claiming securities fraud, court records show. The lawsuit references alleged “false and misleading” statements made by Musk about taking the publicly traded company private. It also claims he “knew or was reckless in not knowing” that his statements were false and/or misleading.
Traders were digesting the news of the week, which included the final revision on second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) and the Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rates.
The final second-quarter GDP reading came in at 4.2 percent, matching estimates. Durable goods orders climbed to a six-month high in August.
The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, the year-over-year change in core personal consumption expenditures minus food and energy , held steady at 2% in August, and is in line with the Fed’s 2% inflation target. A reading on consumer sentiment came in slightly below expectations, but remained above 100.
Stocks rose broadly Thursday as investors digested the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates and looked ahead to third-quarter earnings season next month.
Fox Business' Ken Martin contributed to this report.