Election Rattles Nasdaq
Uncertainty over the Presidential election deadlock and lingering concerns
about Cisco’s earnings report slammed the Nasdaq Wednesday, as the average
plummeted 5.4% and closed at its lows of the day. The Dow and S&P 500 fared
a little better, but did join the Nasdaq in the red with losses of 0.4% and
1.6%, respectively.
Volume was light and roughly on par with Tuesday’s levels, with 1.66 billion
shares trading on the Nasdaq and 894 million shares trading on the NYSE.
The market now awaits the Florida recount numbers which will likely be
completed on Thursday, and some analysts expect stocks to drift once the
election is decided.
"The last really tight election was Nixon-Kennedy in 1960, and there was
the expectation that we would see some direction in the stock market after the outcome was
decided," said Hugh Johnson, Chief Investment Strategist, First Albany.
"But if you look back at the record, there really wasn’t any decisive move to the upside or the downside. The market remained very trendless
after we knew the results, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see that outcome this time as
well," he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq fell 183.74 to 3232.05, the Dow
slipped 45.12 to 10,907.06, and the S&P 500 fell 22.54 to 1409.33.
Top performing groups included oil services
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pharmaceuticals
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1.8%.
Under the most pressure were Internets
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semiconductors
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Concerns about Cisco’s inventory comments on Monday weighed heavily on
technology. Big caps caught in the selloff included Sun Microsystems
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down 10%, Cisco
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High-flyers getting stung were PMC Sierra
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Dow winners were Merck
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and Du Pont
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Express
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In addition to the hotly contested election, traders will be looking to Thursday’s Producer Price Index
number, which will be released at 8:30 AM ET. Estimates look for increases in the PPI and PPI core rate of 0.1%
each.