March 9, 2017: The S&P 500 closed barely higher on the day up 0.08% and 1.89 points at 2,364.87. Separately the DJIA closed higher 0.01% on the day at 20,858.19, up approximately 2.46 points. Overall this was brought about by another strong performance by the healthcare sector, namely drug manufacturers. Although we saw crude oil make a massive drop on Wednesday, which continued Thursday, it appears this was an overreaction for companies in the space as a vast majority posted gains on the day. The only real industry weakness we saw in the S&P 500 on Thursday was in financial REITs and a few IT stocks; otherwise, the market was relatively flat.
Crude oil continued to fall, this time below what was thought to be a support level at $50. Oil closed 1.19% lower at $49.68.
Gold continued to drop 0.64% or $7.70, still holding barely above $1,200, at $1,201.70.
As we have said before, the healthcare sector helped pull the S&P up along with Oil and Gas stocks. This seems to be a big role reversal from these industries and how they performed earlier this week. Oil and gas stocks still ran higher despite crude oil breaking below the $50 mark on the day.
The only industries that had weak performance across the board were Financial REITs and IT stocks. There were other companies that pulled the Index down on the day but they were more scattered with no clear cut pattern.
The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Tuesday was Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) which traded down 5.3% at $8.49. The stock’s 52-week range is $7.24 to $11.37. Volume was more than double the daily average of 6.05 million shares. The company saw its shares drop following its most recent earnings report.
The stock posting the largest daily percentage gain in the S&P 500 ahead of the close Thursday was Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG) which jumped 8.8% to $70.06. The gain was following news that the company had a solid earnings report. The stock’s 52-week range is $62.10 to $125.45. Volume was 7.48 million which is well above the daily average of around 1.69 million shares.
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