Discouraging News Out Of Europe Drags Market Down – Acadiana Business Index

Equity markets ended the session lower, albeit off their worst levels. Ken Meyers has your market report on the Acadiana Business Index.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 62 points to 14,452 after being down as many as 109 points in early action. The S&P 500 fell nearly 9 points to 1552 and the NASDAQ shed just over 11 points to close at 3237. The NASDAQ was 2-1 negative on issues.
• Stocks were lower from the opening bell as investors digested discouraging news out of Europe. In an unexpected move, European finance ministers, the IMF and the Cypriot government placed a tax on Cypriot bank deposits, in return for bailout funding. The unprecedented move heightened concerns throughout the European Union that seizing deposits could potentially be part of future bailouts.
• Nine of the 10 sectors on the S&P ended lower, led by declines in financials. Shares of JP Morgan were down 1% to $49.51 and Goldman Sachs gave up 1.9% to $151.95. In other news, Hewlett-Packard rallied 2.9% to $22.83 following an analyst’s upgrade.
• Composite volume on the NYSE was just over 3.1 billion shares with declining issues besting advancers by an 8-5 margin.
• Turning to fixed income markets, Treasuries ended higher along the curve. The benchmark 10-year note was up 5/16 of a point to yield 1.96% and the 30-year bond gained 17/32 to yield 3.19%.

For the complete report, click Ken's Market Report.