Note: Our daily “S&P 500 Outlook, Forecast, and Trading plan for Wednesday, 11/14” will be posted around 8:30am EDT, Wednesday.
THE GIST (“THE WHAT”)
The S&P 500 index erased its early session’s attempt to rebound as Energy sector fell for the fourth straight session with oil prices falling to December lows. Technology stocks also attempted to regain their lost ground but retreated in the later session as Apple Inc. remained under pressure on concerns of waning iPhones demand.
Opening with a sluggish mood, the index gained a sharp bullish momentum on hopes of a possible resolution of trade tensions after White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow confirmed reports of renewed trade talks with China ahead of the scheduled meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping.
Gains, however, faded on registering the day’s high at 2754.60 (fractionally below the upper bound of the range indicated by our models to go long. Click here to read the full report) amid heavy selling in Energy stocks. Oscillating between gains and losses, the index closed the session slightly lower, down 4.04 points at 2722.18 and losing 0.15% over previous session’s close.
THE DETAILS (The “How & Why”):
Energy stocks continued to remain under heavy selling pressure, as oil prices fell for the 12th straight session, registering its longest streak of declines on record on concerns of surging global supply. Energy sector was the worst performer of the session, down 2.39%. Halliburton Company, TechnipFMC PLC and Marathon Oil Corp. were the worst decliners within the sector, down 5.53%, 5.01% and 4.58% respectively. Offsetting some of these sharp declines was a 4.33% rise in Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. amid rising natural gas prices on the back of cold weather forecasted for the U.S.
Technology stocks attempted to rebound as semiconductor stocks regained some of their lost footing in the early session. The sector, however, gave up most of the day’s gains, closing the session relatively unchanged as Apple Inc. extended its slide for the fourth straight session, falling 1.00% after Goldman Sachs cut its price target for the tech-giant, citing waning iPhone demand.
Activision Blizzard Inc. and eBay Inc. were the biggest laggards within the tech sector, down 2.49% and 2.97%. On the bright side, NVIDIA Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Applied Materials Inc. led the semiconductor rebound, up 5.15%, 3.05% and 2.67% respectively.
Health Care, Consumer Staples and Communication Services were the other notable decliners in today’s choppy session, down 0.68%, 037% and 0.26% respectively. DaVita Inc. plunged 5.47% on missing third-quarter earnings estimates. Coty Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. were the worst performers of the session, falling sharply by 5.66% and 5.58% and dragging the broader Consumer Staples sector lower.
Offsetting losses were modest gains in Financials, Utilities and Industrials sectors, up 0.59%, 0.35% and 0.45% respectively. General Electric Company rebounded from steep losses, rising 7.76% after the struggling industrial conglomerate announced its plan to reduce its stake in the oil field service company Baker Hughes to just over 50% down from 62.5%.