The markets continued their volatility from last week with a wild day on Wall Street. The Dow 30 closed higher by 34 after being down 500 points early on. The S&P 500 closed higher by 4, and the Nasdaq 100 added 51 points as the leader of this market rally from lows today. This marks the 4th time this year the S&P 500 sold off 1.5% during the day and recovered to go positive by the closed. April 4th was the last time this happened.
Sector News
Transportation stocks sold off again today helping push the sector to new lows. Technical traders note the short term extension and hint at a possible snapback. Today's lows on the sector came right at a technical support level as well.
Banking stocks sold off to new lows today once again. Technical traders noted the selloff as most of the reason for the early push lower in the broad markets. Though the sector did push to new lows early in the day, the bulls stepped in and the sector closed well off their lows of the session.
Stock News
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) shares held back the transportation stocks again today as the company was downgraded by Bank of America / Merrill Lynch to "neutral" from "buy". The analyst says that the change in management at their express division may slow the company from improving it's adjusted profit target. Shares broke to new lows, now down by more than 20% in just the last 6 days.
Facebook (NYSE: FB) announced they would increase their share buyback program by $9 billion. This will be on top of it's existing $15 billion program already in place. Shares are currently trading near the highs of a strong, technical downtrend. For the year shares are still in bear market territory.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares were back in the news today as Elon Musk commented on 60 minutes that he has no respect for the SEC nor the United Auto Workers Association. Shares of the stock have done well recently, mostly avoiding the recent decline in the overall markets. For the year, shares are higher by 15%.