March 7, 2017: The S&P 500 closed slightly lower on the day down 0.29% or 6.93 points at 2,368.38. Overall this was brought about by weakness all across the index. Although biotech and drug stocks led the charge lower, with the help from some oil stocks. Industrial goods (aerospace/defense), cigarettes, and semiconductors (broad line) seemed to be the only industries keeping the S&P 500 from dipping too far down. Separately, the DJIA closed down 0.14% on the day at 20,924.76, down approximately 29.58 points.
Crude Oil pushed ever so slightly lower on the day, closing at $53.10 just $0.10 below Monday.
Gold also sank lower in Tuesday’s session down 0.78% or $9.50 to close at $1,216.00.
As we said before the strong industries that propped up the index were Cigarettes, Aerospace and Defense industrial goods, and Broad Line Semiconductors. Each industry was up on average just over 0.5%.
Biotech and Drug stocks were absolutely laying waste on Tuesday with a vast majority of the major stocks in each industry dropping at least 1%, some closer to 3%. Oil and Gas stocks were particularly weak on Tuesday as well across the board.
The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Tuesday was Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) which traded down 5.1% at $2.62. The stock’s 52-week range is $2.57 to $5.77. Volume was about 175% above the daily average of around 25 million shares. The telecom company had no specific news but was continuing its fall after its fourth quarter earnings.
The stock posting the largest daily percentage gain in the S&P 500 ahead of the close Tuesday was Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) which jumped 2.4% to $217.76. The gain was following news that Trump had endorsed the House Republican health care plan. Also Humana is teaming up with Quartet to deliver integrated mental health care to New Orleans residents. The stock’s 52-week range is $150.00 to $218.92. Volume was about 26% above the daily average of around 1.7 million shares.
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