February 23, 2016: Markets opened lower on Tuesday on concerns on China’s economy and then got worse from there. European markets reacted badly to a huge writedown at miner BHP Billiton and economic data in the U.S. was short of expectations. Then the Saudi oil minister reminded everyone that a production freeze at record high levels is not the same as a production cut, and the bottom fell out of the energy sector. WTI crude oil for April delivery settled at $31.87 a barrel, down about 4.6% on the day. April gold added 1% to settle at $1,222.20 for the day. Equities were headed for a lower close shortly before the closing bell as the DJIA traded down 1.04% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 1.09%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 1.27%.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Tuesday was JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) which traded down 4.25% at $56.08. The stock’s 52-week range is $50.07 to $70.61. Trading volume was about one-third higher than the daily average of around 20 million. The big bank raised its loan loss reserves by $500 million today to cover first-quarter losses on loans to the energy industry. The bank’s total bad debt reserve for energy companies now totals $1.3 billion..
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded down 4.02% at $85.25. The stock’s 52-week range is $69.58 to $112.20. Volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 12.5 million shares traded. The company had no specific news today, but the collapse in crude oil pricing hit the stock hard.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded down 2.75% at $51.20. The stock’s 52-week range is $39.72 to $56.85. Trading volume was about 50% below the daily average of around 41 million. The software giant had no specific news today.
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) traded down 2.55% at $145.00. The stock’s 52-week range is $139.05 to $218.77. Volume was about 20% below the daily average of around 4.5 million shares. The most heavily weighted stock on the Dow index had no specific news today.
Of the Dow 30 stocks 26 are set to close lower today and four are on track to close higher.
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