The markets finished out the week in the red. The Dow 30 was lower by 54, the S&P 500 lost 5, and the Nasdaq 100 once again held up the best, only losing 2 on the day. This marked the best quarter for the tech heavy index since 2013. Next week the new month begins with manufacturing numbers, and the minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting, which are due out on Wednesday.
Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was unable to hang on to yesterdays gains as the stock gave back all of it today (-2.03%). The stock has been relatively sideways lately with no real response to the price changes in oil. Shares attempted to move out of a month long range yesterday but sellers pushed the stock right back into the range today. The stock still remains lower by almost 10% on the year.
Alcoa Corporation (NYSE: AA) added another 2.72% today as investors continued to chase this discounted stock. In a rally that spanned the entire week, bouncing over 6% investors finally committed to the the bottom. Since late January the stock has been pulling back slowly to the 200 day moving average. That seemed to be the magic spot for new longs to come in and it hasn't looked back since then.
FMC (NYSE: FMC) blasted off to new highs this morning as the company announced that it worked a deal to exchange assets with DuPont (NYSE: DD). FMC agreed to buy part of DuPont's crop protection business, while DuPont will buy FMC's health and nutrition unit. The deal is said to help DuPont get regulatory clearance of its merger with Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW). The news sent shares higher by 13.17% on the day with volume well above average.