For Oct. 21, 2015, here's your stock market news and stocks to watch based on today's market moves...
How Did the Stock Market Do Today?
Dow Jones:17,168.61; -48.50;-0.28%
S&P 500: 2,018.94; -11.83;-0.58%
Nasdaq:4,840.12; -40.86;-0.84%
The Dow Jones Industrial Average today (Wednesday) slumped more than 48 points as energy stocks and healthcare stocks cratered. This afternoon, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she had serious concerns about the latest round of merger and acquisition activity in the sector. The news hammered shares of Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET), Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), Anthem Inc. (NYSE: ANTM), and CIGNA Corp. (NYSE: CI). Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell thanks to a slump in biotech stocks and a big earnings miss from Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO). Yahoo stock fell by more than 5% after the company missed profit and earnings estimates.
Top Stock Market News Today
Stock Market News: All 10 S&P sectors slipped on Wednesday, with energy stocks and healthcare stocks leading the decline. Biotech stocks cratered across the board - although the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF (Nasdaq: IBB) slipped just 0.5%. Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc. (NYSE: VRX) fell more than 19.3% after the firm received a number of downgrades. At one point, the embattled stock fell as much as 40%, but the stock received support after activist investor Bill Ackman purchased another 2 million shares. As Money Morning Global Credit Strategist Michael Lewitt explains, the stock is undergoing "a super crash."
Oil Prices Slip: Oil prices slumped for the third-straight afternoon after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a surge in inventories. November WTI oil prices fell 2.2% to hit $45.24 per barrel, while Brent crude prices slipped 1.6% to hit $47.91. Shares of Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) slipped about 0.7%, while shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) dipped about 0.8%.
On Tap Tomorrow: On Thursday, the European Central Bank will issue an update on its rate decision for the month of October. In the United States, keep an eye out for reports on weekly natural gas storage levels, existing home sales, and weekly jobless claims. Companies reporting earnings tomorrow include Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA), McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD), Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P), and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT).
Stocks to Watch No. 2, SNDK: Shares of SanDisk Corp. (Nasdaq: SNDK) were up more than 2.1% after the hard-drive manufacturer announced it has agreed to sell itself to Western Digital Corp. (Nasdaq: WDC) for roughly $19 billion.
Stocks to Watch No. 3, VMW: Shares of VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) slipped more than 19% after the company received a flurry of downgrades after its third-quarter report.
Stocks to Watch No. 4,GM: Shares of General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) added more than 5.8% after the company reported it beat third-quarter earnings estimates. The auto giant said it will achieve a 10% boost in North American profit margins this year. That means the company's growth has been realized almost a year faster than it previously predicted.
Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, consultant, and political risk analyst with decades of trading experience and degrees in economics, cybersecurity, and business from Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Indiana University, and Northwestern.