US stocks kicked off New Year on a weak note and ended with big losses on Monday, 24 June 2013. Stocks ended sharply lower on Monday, following a 5.3% tumble in the Shanghai stock market overnight spurred by worries over China's economy and banking system. However, stocks on Wall Street pared some of their losses in the afternoon after Federal Reserve officials tried to downplay talk of tapering the central bank's bond-buying program.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 139.84 points, or 0.9%, at 14,659.56. The Nasdaq Composite closed down 36.49 points, or 1.1%, at 3,320.76. The S&P 500 index finished down 19.34 points, or 1.2%, at 1,573.09.
All ten economic sectors ended in the red. Materials and financials posted the biggest losses. Only five of the Dow's 30 components closed higher.
Among major stocks under foucs, Bank of America was the biggest decliner on the Dow, with shares down 3.1%, followed by Hewlett-Packard with shares down 3%. Boeing closed down 2.1% after one of its 787 Dreamliner planes flown by United Airlines had to make an emergency landing Sunday due to a brake problem.
The Shanghai Composite stock index fell 5.3% on Monday on concerns that officials may not act to ease a liquidity crunch, according to news reports. Equities also fell elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region.
The latter was driven by liquidity concerns as the People's Bank of China has taken a hardline stance in rejecting calls for liquidity injections. Instead, the PBOC has defended its position, saying there are sufficient levels of liquidity in the system and that banks in China need to do a better job of cash and risk management.
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Consequently, worries about China's growth outlook have risen and were given attention today by Goldman Sachs, which downgraded its second quarter GDP (to 7.5% from 7.8%) and full-year GDP (to 7.4% from 7.8%) forecasts for China.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, rose by 0.25% on Monday.
Decliners outnumbered advancers about 7 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange and 7 to 2 on the Nasdaq. Composite NYSE volume topped 4.5 billion shares, while composite Nasdaq volume topped 1.9 billion shares by the close.
Crude-oil prices pared earlier losses and ended higher on Monday, 24 June 2013 at Nymex. Prices fell initially after tightening credit conditions in China triggered a global equity selloff on fears about Chinese economic growth. Light and sweet crude for August ended higher by $1.49 (1.6%) at $95.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. Prices slumped below $93 earlier during the day.
Bullion metal prices ended substantially lower on Monday, 24 June 2013 at Comex. Comex gold and silver futures prices ended the U.S. day session sharply lower, after tightening credit conditions in China triggered a global equity selloff on fears about Chinese economic growth.
Gold for August delivery ended lower by $14.9 (1.2%) at $1,277.1 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. July silver ended lower by $0.47 (2.3%) at $19.49 an ounce on Monday.
Indian ADRs ended mostly lower on Monday. In the IT space, Infosys was down 2.3% and Wipro was down 2%. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank was down 4.6% and ICICI Bank was down 1.6%. In other space, Tata Motors was down 2.9%, and Sterlite was down 2.8%.
For tomorrow there is a full lineup of economic reports that includes the April Case-Shiller Home Price Index, May Durable Goods, May New Home Sales, and June Consumer Confidence reports.
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