Government Down, Markets Up
Benzinga | Oct 01, 2013 03:44PM ET
Top headlines around the world focus on the United States government shutdown. Markets fell Monday on anticipation of the House and Senate unable to come to an agreement, but managed to push higher Tuesday. There have been 17 government shutdowns, with the average lasting two to three days.
The other big announcement is the opening of Affordable Care Act exchanges. About two percent of the country is expected to sign up for the health insurance subsidy in 2014.
Major Indexes
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a gain of 462.03 points, or 0.41 percent, to 15,191.70.
The S&P 500 added 13.45 points, or 0.8 percent on the day, closing at 1,695.
The Nasdaq rose 46.5 points or 1.23 percent to 3,817.98.
The Russell 3000 added points 9.21 , or 0.91 percent to close at 1,020.76
Manufacturing Data
The ISM Manufacturing purchasing managers index was better than expected at 56.2 while analysts were expecting 55. A reading greater than 50 indicates growth. The ISM manufacturing price index was also larger than expected at 56.5. The elevated price index suggests inflation.
Stock Movers
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals (LXRX) shot up 21.43 percent to $2.89 on kidney-drug data.
Myriad Genetics (MYGN) rose 7.70 percent to $25.31 after the company reported that CPT code pricing error should take a 'week or two' to correct. Ladenburg Thalmann upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy.
Antares Pharma (ATRS) added 6.65 percent to close at $4.33 following the announcement that an FDA decision is expected on its drug on October 14. Equities
Walker & Dunlop (WD) dropped 19.17 percent to $12.86 after the company announced it would be raising another round of financing.
Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN) fell 7.11 percent to $34.25 after Robert W. Baird downgraded the stock from Outperform to Neutral.
Commodities
Oil slid today, with WTI breaking through the $102 level it was testing Monday. At last check WTI futures were down 0.58 percent to $101.74. Brent futures gave up 0.7 percent to $107.61. Meanwhile, natural gas flew 1.46 percent higher to $3.61.
Precious metals took a beating with news of the government shutdown. Gold fell below $1,300 with COMEX futures down 2.73 percent to $1,290.80. Silver dropped 2.22 percent to $21.23.
Agricultural commodity futures were mixed with corn and cotton down, and wheat posting gains.
Volume and Volatility
After a drought, volume has been higher this week. Tuesday, almost 120 million shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) traded hands, compared to the three month average of 126 million.
After surging higher yesterday, volatility dropped. The CBOE VIX was down 6.51 percent to 15.52.
Global Markets
With Chinese exchanges closed for a national holiday this week, the only big Asian data comes from Japan. The Nikkei was mostly unchanged, up just 0.2 percent.
Europe was mostly up for the day. The Euro Stoxx 50 index, which tracks 50 eurozone blue chips added 1.38 percent. England’s FTSE dropped just 0.03 percent, and France’s CAC fell gained 1.28 percent.
Currencies
The U.S. Dollar fell Tuesday. Late in the day, the PowerShares ETF (UUP) that tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, was down 0.12 percent to 21.60.
The closely watched EUR/USD pair was once again almost flat, up 0.04 percent to $1.3533. Other movers included the USD/JPY, which was down 0.39 percent, and the AUD/USD, which was last up 0.87 percent.
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