October 6, 2017: Markets opened lower Friday following the non-farm payrolls report that showed a dip of 30,000 compared with an expected increase of 90,000. Much of the drop was attributed to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The headline unemployment stoked belief that the Fed will raise interest rates again in December. WTI crude oil for November delivery settled at $49.29 a barrel, down 3% on the day to close the week down 4.6%. December gold added 0.1% on the day to settle at $1,274.90 for a weekly loss of 0.8%. Equities were headed for a lower close shortly before the bell as the DJIA traded down 0.05% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.16%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.01%.
Equity indexes traded very near the break-even line just minutes before the closing bell. The closing tally could show either a small gain or a small loss for any of the indexes.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Friday was Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded down 1.35% at $116.97. The stock’s 52-week range is $99.61 to $119.00. Volume was about 55% below the daily average of around 5.1 million shares. The company sold some offshore assets to Glencore for $973 million this morning. Oh, and oil prices dropped nearly 5% this week.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) traded down 1.14% at $24.26. The stock’s 52-week range is $23.58 to $32.38. Volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 39.5 million shares. The company had no specific news today.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) which traded down 0.67% at $48.85. The stock’s 52-week range is $42.80 to $54.83. Volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 14.4 million. The company had no specific news.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) traded down 0.67% at $78.88. The stock’s 52-week range is $65.28 to $81.99. Volume was a little over half the daily average of around 8 million shares. The company’s share price reacted to Amazon’s new delivery service.
Of the Dow stocks, 13 are on track to close higher Friday and 17 are set to close lower.
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