April 5, 2017: The S&P 500 closed lower on the day, down 0.31% and 7.21 points to 2,352.95. Separately the DJIA closed down 0.20% on the day at 20,648.15, down approximately 0.20 points.

The broad markets started out Wednesday fairly positive across the board, along with crude oil and gold showing gains as well. Initially, these were all positive following a strong ADP report on jobs and employment. However, the Fed released the minutes from its recent FOMC meeting commenting that stocks had a relatively high valuation and generally speaking the markets don’t like it when the Fed comments on their valuations. Also, Paul Ryan commented today that tax reform could take even longer than health care reform, signaling that the administration was not necessarily on the same page. These two events dragged down what was otherwise a very positive day.

Looking at the sectors, utilities and restaurants were the only positive ones on the day.  The most negative sectors were biotechs and financials.

Crude oil turned lower again this week on Wednesday. Crude closed down 0.35% at $50.85 on the session.

Gold was also lower on the day down ever so slightly 0.07% or $0.90 on the day, closing at $1,257.50.

The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Wednesday was Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) which traded down 3.2% at $6.12. The stock’s 52-week range is $3.54 to $8.20. Volume was roughly 76.8 million versus the daily average of 38.3 million shares.

The stock posting the largest daily percentage gain in the S&P 500 ahead of the close Wednesday was Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) which jumped nearly 3% to $18.52. The stock’s 52-week range is $17.05 to $46.53. Volume was 6.8 million which is a little above the daily average of around 5.0 million shares.

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