The markets finished out the week with a strong selloff as weak news out of China finally hit the US markets. All week long there had been news of weakness out of China, but investors held off their concern until today. The Dow 30 sold off 496 thanks in part to a sharp move lower in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ ). The S&P 500 sold off 50, and the Nasdaq 100 closed down on the day by 159. Next week investors turn their attention to the Federal Reserve and their future rate hike comments.
Sector News
Healthcare stocks saw a chink in their armor today as the weakness in the overall markets finally has caught up to the once-relatively-strong sector. Healthcare lost almost 2% this week and has run back towards the 200-day moving average, but still remains in the positive for the year by about 4.5%.
Oil continued its Christmas tree trading to wrap up the week with a decline of about 3%. This helped pull the producers and explorers down on the day as well. Those sectors were among the worst performers on the day. For the week, the oil, gas, and equipment services industry ranked as the 18th worst performing industry out of 206.
The technology sector as a whole posted a small gain on the week thanks to strong moves in names like Twitter (TWTR ) and Broadcom (AVGO ), as well as strong performance in the application software subsector. For the year the tech is still lower by 24%.
Stock News
Costco (COST ) shares broke through the 200-day moving average today, losing 9% as the company reported earnings that came in less than expected. Revenue came in better than expected, but the CEO commented that competition in the grocery business has and will continue to put pressure on their overall margins.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ ) shares had their worst one-day performance in over 10 years as a report from Reuters showed that the company knew that its baby powder had trace elements of asbestos and did not address it. The report says a review of company memos shows they knew about this since 1971. Shares erased over a month's worth of gains on the report.
Adobe (ADBE ) shares sold off today despite the company announcing earnings and revenue that came in better than expected. The company also announced that it would raise its revenue forecast for the year on stronger subscription rates and product additions.
