Dow Closes At Lowest Level In Five Months – Acadiana Business Index

Markets suffered another setback on Thursday. Ken Meyers has your stock market report on the Acadiana Business Index.

• The Dow closed at its lowest level in five months as it lost over 28 points to 12542. The S&P 500 Index declined 2 points to 1353 and the NASDAQ gave up nearly 10 points to 2836.
• Stocks were under pressure throughout the day amid disappointing economic data.
• Jobless claims widely missed expectations and rose to the highest level since April 2011.
• Regional manufacturing reports added to the negative tone as factory activity in both the mid-Atlantic and New York region unexpectedly contracted in November.
• News that the euro zone slipped into its second recession in four years also put a damper on sentiment.
• Investors also took a cautious approach ahead of Friday’s opening talks on taxes and spending between President Obama and Congress.
• As a result, the majority of sectors finished lower. Telecommunication and material shares paced the decline as Verizon fell 54 cents to $51.70 and Alcoa lost 8 cents to $8.05. Technology was also a big laggard with Apple extending its recent slide as it dropped $11.12 to $525.80.
• Overall, NYSE Composite volume totaled over 3.8 billion shares. The NYSE was 2-1 negative on issues and 3-2 negative on volume. On the NASDAQ, decliners beat advancers by 8-5 on issues and by 6-5 on volume.
• In fixed-income, the 10-year note was up for the sixth-straight day as it gained 1/32 to yield 1.59%.

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