November 30, 2015: Markets opened higher on Monday but the upbeat start to the day didn’t last long. Industrials and consumer discretionary stocks weighed most heavily on equity indexes today, with energy and tech providing some balancing gains. WTI crude for January delivery traded down about 0.1% today at $41.65 per barrel to close the month down about 10%. Gold for December delivery traded down up about 0.8%% at $1,065.00 for the day, but the most active contract dropped by 6.7% for the month, the largest monthly decline in nearly two and a half years. Equities were headed for a lower close shortly before the closing bell as the DJIA traded down 0.41% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.42%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.37%.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Monday was Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) which traded down 1.79% at $58.82. The stock’s 52-week range is $56.30 to $90.97. Trading volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 12 million. Generally downbeat estimates of Thanksgiving weekend sales did not help the world’s largest retailer’s stock price today.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) traded down 1.53% at $132.27. The stock’s 52-week range is $90.69 to $135.30. Trading volume was about 20% below the daily average of about 4.4 million. The company had no specific news today.
Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) traded down 1.50% at $53.15. The stock’s 52-week range is $45.69 to $63.62. Trading volume was little more than half of the daily average of about 12.3 million. The drug maker had no specific news today.
The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) traded down 1.29% at $113.64. The stock’s 52-week range is $90.00 to $122.08. Volume was about 60% above the daily average of around 8.6 million shares traded. The media giant continues to take some hits from the loss of subscribers to its ESPN network. The mid-December release of the next installment of the “Star Wars” franchise can’t come soon enough for the company.
Of the Dow 30 stocks 21 are set to close lower today and 9 are on track to close higher.
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