Health-care, materials sectors and telecoms sectors lead declines
U.S. stock-market indices gave up earlier gains, finishing lower on Thursday, 14 December 2017 with the selling pressure coming from health-care, materials sectors and telecoms sectors. Equities began the day slightly higher, but were tripped up by rumors that House Speaker Paul Ryan is considering resigning following the 2018 mid-term elections. Mr. Ryan later said that he does not plan on retiring anytime soon, but equities failed to bounce back to their earlier levels.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 76.77 points, or 0.3%, lower at 24,508.66, retreating from the intraday high it hit earlier. The S&P 500 index declined by 10.84 points, or 0.4%, to 2,652.01, with 10 of the 11 main sectors ending in negative territory. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 19.27 points, or 0.3%, to 6,856.53.
Losses were modest for the most part, but small caps showed notable weakness. Selling persisted following news that Senator Marco Rubio will vote 'No' on tax reform unless the final bill further expands the child tax credit for lower-income households.
Earlier support for markets from better-than-expected economic data seemed to evaporate, however. Sales at U.S. retailers climbed 0.8% in November, the start of the holiday shopping season. The increase was twice as large as the forecast. Separately, jobless claims fell 11,000 in the latest week, while U.S. import prices rose 0.7% in November. The flash U.S. manufacturing PMI rose to 55 from 53.9 in November, while the flash U.S. services activity index fell to 52.4 from 54.5. Any reading above 50 indicates improving conditions.
The European Central Bank held its leading interest rate at a record low and left in place largely dovish guidance on policy moving forward. Separately, the Bank of England held key interest rates at 0.5%, as expected, in a 9-0 vote. The central bank raised rates for the first time in a decade in November.
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The monetary policy updates come a day after the Federal Reserve lifted a key short-term U.S. interest rate to a range of 1.25% to 1.5%, but in a sign of caution, stuck to its earlier forecast for just three 1/4-point rate increases in 2018.
Bullion prices ded moderately higher at comex on Thursdsay, 14 December 2017 at Comex. Gold prices finished higher on Thursday in the wake of the Federal Reserve's decision to raise U.S. interest rates, with the metal gaining on the view that 2018 will likely bring three more hikes, not four.
The central bank lifted a key short-term U.S. interest rate to a range of 1.25% to 1.5% and stuck to its earlier forecast for just three rate increases in 2018.
February gold tacked on $8.50, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,257.10 an ounce, for the highest most-active contract. Gold has gained around 9% so far this year, boosted largely by geopolitical uncertainty. Silver gained 0.4%, to $15.934 an ounce.
Oil settled lower on Thursday, 14 December 2017 as recent crude supply and production data fueled volatile trading in the energy market, with U.S. and global benchmark prices recouping most of what they lost a day earlier.
January West Texas Intermediate crude rose 44 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $57.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after losing about 1% on Wednesday. Brent oil for February added 87 cents, or 1.4%, to $63.31 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, buoyed by the recent North Sea pipeline closure, after losing roughly that same amount a day earlier.
The International Energy Agency reported Thursday that global oil supply has jumped to a one-year high as U.S. shale producers roar back to life, while data from the Energy Information Administration Wednesday showed a bigger-than-expected weekly drop in U.S. crude inventories, along with a climb in domestic production to its highest weekly level on record at the EIA.
On Friday, investors will receive the Empire State Manufacturing Survey for December (consensus 18.0) at 8:30 ET and both Industrial Production (consensus +0.3%) and Capacity Utilization (consensus 77.2%) at 9:15 ET.
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