Moody’s Downgrade To Germany, The Netherlands, And Luxembourg Brings Stocks Down – Acadiana Business Index

Markets pared their losses in a late session rally. Ken Meyers has your stock market report on the Acadiana Business Index.

• The Dow Jones closed lower by 104 points to 12,617 after being down as many as 199 points. The S&P 500 fell 12 points to 1338, and the NASDAQ closed at 2863 after giving up 27 points.
• Stocks gradually gave ground throughout the session as investors responded to Moody’s outlook downgrade to Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
• On our shores, economic data was discouraging with manufacturing reports out of the Richmond Fed showing a steep contraction in the region.
• Despite this, equities rallied into the closing bell after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Reserve was moving closer to action in spurring growth in the economy.
• All 10 sectors on the S&P finished lower, led by over 1.3% losses in energy and telecom stocks.
• Shares of Exxon gave up 63 cents to $84.58 and AT&T ended lower by 75 cents at $34.63 per share. On the earnings front, UPS declined $3.61 to $74.34 and DuPont fell 97 cents to $47.74 after both companies missed analysts’ expectations and lowered their full year earnings guidance. On the upside, Domino’s Pizza added 97 cents to $32.96 following their better-than-expected profit tally.
• Composite volume on the NYSE was 3.8 billion shares with declining issues besting advancers by a margin of 3-1. The NASDAQ was 8-3 negative on issues.
• Turning to fixed income, Treasuries are higher along the curve. The benchmark 10-year note was up 7/32 to yield 1.40%.