October 30, 2015: Markets opened higher on Friday before falling into the red until the early afternoon. Financial stocks could not get untracked, but energy stocks were able to pick up the slack. It doesn’t look as though it will lift equities enough to close the month on an up note. WTI crude oil for December delivery settled at $46.59 a barrel, up 1.2% on the day and up 3.3% for the month of October. Gold settled at $1,141.40, down 0.5% for the day but up 2.4% for the month. Equities were headed for a lower close shortly before the closing bell as the DJIA traded down 0.14% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.13%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.14%.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Thursday was Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) which traded down 2.21% at $34.00. The stock’s 52-week range is $28.47 to $36.46. Volume was about one-third above the daily average of about 28 million shares traded. The company’s discussions of a merger with Allergan are not being received well.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) traded down 1.23% at $118.24. The stock’s 52-week range is $92.50 to $126.21. Trading volume was about 40% lower than the daily average of about 4.4 million. The company had no specific news today.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) traded down 1.14% at $64.46. The stock’s 52-week range is $50.07 to $70.61. Trading volume was about 40% below the daily average of about 16 million. The company had no specific news today.
American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) traded down 1.12% at $73.39. The stock’s 52-week range is $71.39 to $94.89. Trading volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 6 million. The company had no specific news today either.
Of the Dow 30 stocks 17 are set to close lower today and 13 are on track to close higher.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks