Markets |
Oil drop, China data drag Wall Street lower
DJ: 16,964.10 -109.85 NAS: 4,648.83
-59.43 S&P: 1,979.26
-22.50
(Reuters) U.S.
stocks ended near the lows of the day on Tuesday as energy shares tumbled
alongside the price of oil and soft Chinese trade data rekindled fears that the
global economy is weaker than anticipated.
U.S. crude futures CLc1
fell more than 4 percent in post-settlement trading, in their largest daily
decline since bottoming so far for the year on Feb. 11. Since that low, the
U.S. barrel of crude rose as much as 45.5 percent.
Despite the rebound in crude prices, oversupply and expectations
of weak demand from China have weighed on investor sentiment. The price of oil
and equity indexes have been strongly correlated this year.
"While I'd love to see oil break out, I don't think it will
happen yet," said Uri Landesman, president at Platinum Partners in New
York.
Goldman Sachs analysts said the recent rally in oil was
premature as prices would need to remain lower for longer to help rebalance the
market later in the year.
Shares of Dow components Exxon (XOM.N) and
Chevron (CVX.N) fell
more than 2 percent. The S&P 500 energy index .SPNY dropped 4.1 percent.
China's February trade performance was far worse than economists
had expected, with exports tumbling the most in more than six years. The
16th-straight monthly decline in imports weighed on stocks in the basic
materials sector .SPLRCM, which was down 2 percent.
Landesman said the S&P 500 is still in a downward trend and
will likely stall near the 2,000 level, heading toward support near 1,825
before testing the record set last May above 2,100. The index on Monday closed
above 2,000 for the first time since Jan. 5.
"It will be trading in that channel based on slow global
(economic) growth prospects," Landesman said.
The Dow Jones industrial
average .DJI fell 109.85 points, or 0.64 percent, to
16,964.1, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 22.5 points, or 1.12 percent, to
1,979.26 and the Nasdaq Composite.IXIC dropped 59.43 points, or 1.26 percent,
to 4,648.83.
Shake Shack (SHAK.N)
tumbled 11.8 percent, falling to $37.23 after the burger chain issued
disappointing results and forecast.
Shares of Urban Outfitters (URBN.O) were
up 16.1 percent at $32.69, after better-than-expected sales for its Free People
brand.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
ratio of 3.2-to-1 and on the Nasdaq a 3.5-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the
Nasdaq recorded 36 new highs and 37 new lows.
About 8.5
billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, below the 8.77 billion
average over the last 20 sessions.
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