Stock Market News For Feb 23, 2018
Zacks Investment Research | Feb 22, 2018 09:27PM ET
Benchmarks turned in mixed performances on Thursday even as jobless claims hit a near 45-year low. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 ended their two-day run of losses to finally eke out gains. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq declined for the fourth straight session, charting out its largest streak of losses in more than a year’s time. Further, investors speculated chances of multiple rate hikes this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) increased 0.7%, to close at 24,962.48. Also, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% to close at 2,703.96. However, the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 7,210.09, losing about 0.1%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 7.5% to close at 18.52.
A total of around 6.81 billion shares were traded on Thursday, lower than the last 20-session average of 8.44 billion shares. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.09-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.41-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.
Dow and S&P 500 Post Gains
The Dow amassed an astounding 165 points to end the day in the green. Earlier in the session, the blue-chip index had surged as much as 300 points. Gains were, however, pared after rate hike fears played on investors’ sentiments.
The S&P 500, on the other hand, inched up 2.6 points to end in positive territory. Of the 11 major segments of the S&P 500, nine ended in the green, with real estate and energy shares leading the advancers. The Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) and the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLE) surged 1.1% each on Thursday. Energy shares rallied due to a sudden drawdown in U.S. crude inventories.
However, gains for the S&P 500 were pared due to a decline in financial and healthcare stocks. The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLF) and Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLV) declined 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively. Interest rate fears also weighed on the broader index.
Nasdaq Declines for the Fourth Successive Session
The Nasdaq shed 8 points to end the session in the negative territory. This marked its longest streak of losses since Nov 4, 2016. The tech-heavy index rose by as much as 0.9% at its session peak.
Such a decline was incurred due to losses for Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) . Shares of Netflix plunged 1%, whereas that of Alphabet declined 0.4%. Further, iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology exchange-traded fund (IBB) plummeted 0.6% and weighed heavily on the index. You can see Zacks Investment Research
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