Energy, industrial and financial sectors lead stocks lower
US stocks ended lower on Tuesday, 24 June 2014 after a late afternoon sell-off. Equity indices displayed modest losses at the start, but were quick to regain their flat lines after a pair of economic data points surprised to the upside. Stocks initially rose on the back of positive new-home sales, home prices and consumer confidence data, but gains evaporated by afternoon.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 119.13 points, or 0.7%, to 16,813.13. The Nasdaq Composite lost 18.32 points, or 0.4%, to 4,350.36. The S&P 500 ended the session 12.63 points, or 0.6%, lower at 1949.98.
Six out of ten economic sectors ended lower led by energy, industrial and financial sectors.
Among latest economic data expected at Wall Street, new U.S. homes sold at an annual rate of 504,000 in May to mark the fastest increase in six years. Market had expected a 440,000 increase. It was led by a huge surge in the Northeast. Sales of existing homes in May hit the fastest pace in seven months. Home prices rose in April as the spring selling season got underway, even as annual growth skidded, dropping to the slowest pace in more than a year.
S&P/Case-Shiller's price barometer tracking 20 cities showed that year-over-year price growth hit 10.8% in April a fast pace but down sharply from annual growth of 12.4% in March and a recent peak of 13.7% in November.
A gauge of consumer confidence rose to 85.2 in June, the highest level since January 2008 from 82.2 in May.
More From This Section
In other news Tuesday, the German Ifo consumer sentiment survey came in weaker than expected. The Ifo reading was 109.7 in June versus 110.4 in May. A figure of 110.2 was expected. Worries about the Iraq and Ukraine crisis weighed on German consumer sentiment. The downbeat Ifo report adds more weight to the notions that the European Union's economy remains in serious trouble.
The civil war in Iraq remains a market factor. However, it's likely the Iraqi crisis will not go away and could escalate at any time.
Treasuries settled on their highs after spending the entire session in positive territory. The benchmark 10-yr yield fell five basis points to 2.58%.
Participation remained light with 635 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Bullion prices ended higher on Tuesday, 24 June 2014 at Comex. Gold prices settled higher on Tuesday to mark their fifth straight session gain and hit a 10-week high overnight. Safe-haven demand and a much-improved technical posture in gold recently are fueling upside price pressure.
Gold for August delivery edged up by $2.90, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,321.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It has now tallied a five-session gain of roughly $49 an ounce, or nearly 4%. July silver gained 13 cents, or 0.6%, to end at $21.04 an ounce.
Crude Oil futures settled lower for a second straight session at Nymex on Tuesday, 24 June 2014, but kept their grip on the $106-a-barrel on Tuesday, finding some support as upbeat U.S. economic data raised the prospects for energy demand. Traders continued to keep a close watch on developments in Iraq for any potential disruptions to global supplies and awaited weekly data on U.S. petroleum supplies.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil for August delivery fell 14 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $106.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET, while Durable Orders for May (consensus 0.4%) and the third estimate of Q1 GDP (consensus -1.8%) will cross the wires at 8:30 ET.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News