August 6, 2018: Markets opened slightly lower Monday and all three major indexes are on track to close in the green, although narrowly in the case of the Dow. Corporate earnings remain strong (those tax cuts are doing their intended job) but the continuing tariff battles are taking a toll on investor optimism. The telecom sector is posting Monday’s biggest gain while real-estate is the only loser for the day.
WTI crude oil for September delivery settled at $69.01 a barrel, up 0.8% for the day. December gold settled down about 0.4% at $1,217.70. Equities were heading for a higher close about 10 minutes before the bell as the Dow traded up 0.11% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.34%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.57%.
Bitcoin futures (XBTQ8) for August delivery traded at $6,915, down about 6.5% on the CBOE after opening at $7,070 this morning. The trading range today was $6,875 to $7,145.
The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Monday was The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) which traded up 1.75% at $116.84. The 52-range on the stock is $96.20 to $116.84, and the high was posted today. Volume of around 9 million was about 10% above the daily average. Disney reports quarterly results after markets close Tuesday.
DowDuPont Inc. (NYSE: DWDP) traded up 1.53% at $67.85. The stock’s 52-week range is $61.27 to $77.08. Volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 7.6 million shares.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) traded up 1.27% at $43.38. The stock’s 52-week range is $30.36 to $46.37. Volume was about half the daily average of around 22 million.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) traded up 1.15% at $41.01 in a 52-week range of $32.32 to $41.22, a new high posted today. Volume was roughly equal to the daily average of around 20.4 million shares.
Of the Dow stocks, 19 were set to close higher Monday and 11 were on track to close lower.
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