The markets suffered a rather strong selloff to start the week following news out of Apple suppliers and weak banking stocks. The selloff intensified later in the afternoon as Oil changed course and headed lower for the 11th straight day.
By the close the Dow finished lower by 599, the S&P 500 closed down 54, and the Nasdaq 100 closed with a loss of 206 on the day. The start of trading will be important tomorrow as the market as a whole will be open for trading.
Sector News
Semiconductors sold off the most today thanks to initial news from an Apple supplier that helped pull down the whole sector. The sector retreated to lows on the news along with weakness across the whole sector. The Semis are now lower by about 7% on the year.
Oil saw a little recovery bounce today after a string of down days over the last few weeks thanks to news that Saudi Arabia will ship less oil in December. They reported that they will reduce the world's oil supply by 500k barrels per day during the month. The price of oil popped 1% at the start of the day, but was unable to hold on to those gains.
Utilities continued their push higher today, nearing highs as the sector continue to do well. For the last three months the sector has been the best performer and over the last six months has been the second best performer.
Stock News
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares weighed on the entire markets today as one of their suppliers, Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ: LITE), which makes the facial recognition functions for iPhones, said that one of its largest customers asked them to "materially reduce shipments" for their products. Technical traders note that Apple has broken through the longer-term uptrend support as of today.
American Airlines (NYSE: AAL) shares were higher again today, continuing to try and come out of its year long downtrend. The company was upgraded today to "buy" at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), which said they could benefit from "idiosyncratic opportunities" which will ultimately drive earnings. Goldman also upgraded JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) in the same announcement, saying that their cost-cutting efforts will increase profitability in the coming years.
L Brands (NYSE: LB) shares continued their march higher today as the company was upgraded at Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC). The analyst upgraded the company to "Outperform," saying that they are on the verge of a "massive turnaround." Shares are higher over 20% in just the last month, breaking through their year-long downtrend.