Stocks, still shaky, drop after rallying
It was another shaky day on Wall Street as indexes rallied in the morning, bobbed up and down for much of the day, then sank in the last few minutes of trading. Energy companies dropped along with oil prices. Technology companies also declined.
Stocks were coming off Tuesday’s big gain. At times, investors looked ready to jump back in after steep losses Friday and Monday, yet every gain the market made Wednesday was met with more selling. About 20 minutes before the close of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 260 points, but it finished with a small loss.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down 6.7% from its record high set Jan. 26.
Markets were calmer Wednesday, but there are signs that investors are still nervous. The VIX, known as Wall Street’s fear gauge because it measures how much volatility investors expect in the future, is at 27, more than double where it was two weeks ago. It spiked above 50 early Tuesday.
“The markets had blinders on,” Invesco chief global markets strategist Kristina Hooper said. “I thought it was almost alarming that markets weren’t considering that, for example, we have a different [Federal Reserve] in 2018 that could be more hawkish.”
Still, investors didn’t rush for cover in ultra-safe investments such as bonds. Bond prices fell, sending yields higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.84% from 2.81%.
Other safer-play investments also fell. The price of gold dropped $14.90, or 1.1%, to $1,314.60 an ounce. Silver fell 34 cents, or 2.1%, to $16.24 an ounce. Precious metals prices often rise when the market hits a rough patch. They climbed in December and January but have decreased the last few days.
The biggest tech companies fared the worst. Apple fell 2.1% to $159.54. Facebook slid 2.8% to $180.18. Alphabet retreated 2.7% to $1,055.41.
Wynn Resorts jumped 8.6% to $177.32 after Steve Wynn resigned as chairman and chief executive. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that a number of women had accused Wynn of sexual harassment or assault. Wynn has denied the accusations but said he could not be effective in his corporate positions in the face of those allegations.
Energy companies fell as oil prices sank. Benchmark U.S. crude dropped $1.60, or 2.5%, to $61.79 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard for oil prices, fell $1.35, or 2%, to $65.51 a barrel. That came after the U.S. government said oil production jumped last week.
Newspaper publisher Tronc soared 19.1% to $21.55 after it agreed to sell the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune.
Wholesale gasoline fell 4 cents to $1.77 a gallon. Heating oil fell 5 cents to $1.93 a gallon. Natural gas slid 6 cents to $2.70 per 1,000 cubic feet. Copper fell 10 cents, or 3.2%, to $3.09 a pound.
The dollar rose to 109.42 yen from 109.33 yen. The euro fell to $1.2276 from $1.2392.