Stocks Fall After U.S. Airstrike

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere. A day after setting new record highs, the major indexes and overall stock market are barely hanging on to weekly gains to start the new year. The U.S. confirmed that an airstrike killed Iran's top military commander, sending oil prices surging and hiking geopolitical concerns.

The DOW plunged 360 points at the open only to bounce back and trade roughly 175 points lower on the day hanging on to a weekly gain of +.16%. The S&P 500 is close to finishing the week in negative territory with a small gain of +.10% while the NASDAQ has a little more wiggle room with an increase of +.50%

On Thursday, the DOW advanced 330.36 points +0.9% to 28,868.80 and notched its biggest one-day gain since Dec. 6. The S&P 500 closed +0.8% higher, marking its best performance since Dec. 12 at 3,257.85. The NASDAQ gained +1.3% to end at 9,092.19 and had it's best day since Oct. 11. The major averages hit their session highs in the final minutes of trading.

The news of the airstrike spurred a dash for haven assets like gold and government bonds. Gold prices were on track to rise for the eighth consecutive session, gaining +1.7% to $1,553.40 an ounce. That move higher propelled gold to a weekly gain of +2.3%. Government bond yields dropped across the board, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes down to 1.816% from 1.880% on Thursday.

Crude oil prices advanced, and global stocks faltered after the U.S. airstrike with U.S. crude climbing +3.7% to $64.09 before falling back to $62.49. That will allow crude oil to post a weekly gain of +1.3%

A weaker-than-expected reading on the manufacturing economy also weighed on stocks. December's ISM manufacturing index came in at 47.2, the weakest in a decade and smaller than the 49 reading expected by economists polled by Dow Jones.

Key Levels To Watch Next Week:

Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com

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