Stocks Opened Lower on Hawkish Fed Minutes
- Thursday, October 18, 2018, 10:03
- Stock Market
- Add a comment
Stocks opened lower on Thursday as investors appeared to continue to react negatively to Federal Reserve minutes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately declined 151.14 points, or 0.59%, to 25,555.54. The S&P 500 was off 15.51 points, or 0.55%, to 2,793.70. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 53.99 points, or 0.71%, to 7,588.71.
Oil futures remained under pressure Thursday, in the wake of a rise in domestic crude inventories. November West Texas intermediate crude fell 65 cents, or 0.9%, to $69.10 a barrel, while December Brent crude declined 99 cents, or 1.2%, to $79.06 a barrel.
The number of Americans losing their jobs and applying for unemployment benefits each week remained near a 49-year low in mid-October. Initial jobless claims, one measure of layoffs, dropped by 5,000 to 210,000 in the seven days ended Oct. 13.
Novartis (NVS) announced a $2.1 billion cash acquisition of cancer drugmaker Endocyte (ECYT). The deal will help Novartis expand its radiopharmaceuticals business, according to the company.
Top U.S. aluminum producer Alcoa Corp (AA.N) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday. Excluding certain items, Alcoa earned 63 cents per share, easily topping expectation of 36 cents.
About the Author
Write a Comment
Gravatars are small images that can show your personality. You can get your gravatar for free today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.