U.S. Stocks Mostly Lower after Two Day Gain as Market is Cautious with Positive Economic Data

U.S. market indexes were mostly lower on Thursday after a two-day gain despite positive indicators on the economy. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17828.29 for a loss of -23.22 points or -0.13 percent. The S&P 500 was also down, closing at 2090.10 for a loss of -0.44 points or -0.02 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 4901.77 for a gain of 6.88 points or 0.14 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 13.48 which was down -0.42 points or -3.02 percent.

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Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

For the week the Dow is 1.87 percent higher. The S&P 500 is 1.85 percent and the Nasdaq Composite is 2.77 percent higher. For the year, the Dow is higher by 2.31 percent, the S&P 500 is higher 2.25 percent and the Nasdaq Composite is down 2.1 percent.

Thursday’s Market Movers

The market appeared to take back some of its gains Thursday, despite positive improvements from nearly all the day’s leading economic indicators. Durable goods were higher by 3.4 percent in April, above consensus of 0.3 percent. Jobless claims were lower, down 10,000, putting the yearly annual total below consensus of 275,000 at 268,000. Pending homes sales gained 5.1 percent, a 10 year high and far above a consensus of 0.8 percent.

Stocks reporting earnings for the day mostly gained. Dollar Tree was higher by 12.77 percent. Sears Holdings Corp was higher by 6.55 percent. Dollar General was higher 4.61 percent and GameStop was higher by 0.84 percent. Only Abercrombie & Fitch traded lower for the day, down -15.71 percent.

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the top stocks by gains and losses included the following:

Gains

Apple 0.79 percent

Coca-Cola 0.70 percent

The Home Depot 0.64 percent

Verizon Communications 0.62 percent

Wal-Mart Stores 0.53 percent

Losses

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. -1.86 percent

Goldman Sachs Group -1.26 percent

JPMorgan Chase -0.75 percent

Caterpillar -0.68 percent

3M Co. -0.64 percent

Sectors leading gains in the broad market included utilities and consumer. Sectors leading losses included materials, financials and industrials. Energy stocks were also lower for the day despite a continued rally in oil prices. In commodities, gold traded lower as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a loss of -0.40 percent or -0.34 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was down -0.27 percent to 95.15

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 followed the day’s trend lower closing at 1139.75 for a loss of -1.27 points or -0.11 percent. The S&P 600 closed at 696.98 for a loss of -0.90 points or -0.13 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index which closed at 1480.65 for a loss of -0.55 points or -0.04 percent; the Russell 3000 which closed at 1230.70 for a loss of -0.65 points or -0.05 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index which closed at 589.27 for a gain of 1.39 points or 0.24 percent.