Dow Jones Industrial Average Today Plunges After Rocky Start to Earnings Season

Garrett Baldwin

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 200 points after a sell-off in healthcare stocks and a rising dollar battered commodity prices. Investors are still weighing Sunday night's presidential debate, which pundits overwhelmingly scored to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

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Let's look at the final numbers on Tuesday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:

Dow Jones: 18,128.66; -200.38; -1.09%

S&P 500: 2,136.73; 26.93; -1.24%

Nasdaq: 5,246.79; -81.89; -1.54%

Now, here's a look at today's most important market events and stocks, plus a preview of Wednesday's economic calendar.

DJIA Today: Earnings Season Gets off to a Messy Start; Oil Prices Slump Again

The Dow Jones fell more than 1% on Tuesday after a sharp slump in healthcare stocks and rising oil volatility fueled a sell-off. Earnings season got off to a sour note when Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) badly missed quarterly expectations. Meanwhile, the healthcare sector fell to its lowest levels since the post-Brexit sell-off in June.

In another blow to U.S. manufacturing, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) announced it will shutter its Mustang factory in Flat Rock, Michigan, for a week. The firm announced that domestic sales of the vehicle plunged by a stunning 32% in September.

The price of crude oil today fell today thanks to ongoing concerns about the stability of the recent deal signed by OPEC suppliers. Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors has called OPEC's deal a game-changer. Moors explains what's next for oil prices and what investors must know about global production. The WTI crude oil price today was off 1.1% early this morning, while the Brent crude oil price slipped 1.3%. Here's more on why the price of crude oil was so volatile during Tuesday's trading session.

But the big story today was at Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC). Shares were under pressure after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company is warning of difficult times ahead. According to the report, the bank's branch managers had been pushing employees to get customers to sign up for expensive overdraft protection. The firm is in crisis mode with its top executives working around the clock to establish a strategy to get past the ongoing fake account scandal. The firm has restructured its senior management. Embattled CEO John Stumpf has faced pressure to resign in recent weeks due to the ongoing fake account scandal. Rumors are emerging that the firm will ultimately align behind Timothy Sloan when the dust settles.

Top Stock Market News Today, Oct. 11, 2016

• Shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) added 0.2% on news that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an intellectual property case between the tech giant and Samsung. According to the complaint, Apple has accused Samsung of copying many designs and features of its best-selling iPhone product.
• Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) is still in the news. Reuters reports that Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) is considering a possible bid for the struggling microblogging giant. TWTR stock added 1.9% on the day. We warned investors to avoid TWTR stock and, sure enough, we saw a price crash in recent days. Investors need to know just how far Twitter stock is poised to fall should the firm not find a buyer. Our latest analysis shows that the firm is going to see losses in the fourth quarter. Check it out, right here.
• Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) unofficially kicked off the earnings season on Tuesday, and the news was grim. Shares plunged more than 11% after the firm fell well short of Wall Street earnings expectations. The aluminum producer reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.32 on top of revenue of $5.21 billion. Analysts expected the firm to report $0.34 on $5.33 billion. The company also announced its intentions to break up into two separate public companies. After the bell, look for additional reports from Barracuda Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: CUDA) and Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: HAWK).
• Finally, as we head into the final quarter of 2016, savvy investors are looking for an opportunity to find long-term appreciation upside in the markets. Nowhere is there more opportunity to make big money than in the technology sector. Today, we outline the three best technology stocks to buy right now. You can read all about them, right here.

Tuesday's U.S. Economic Calendar (all times EDT)

• MBA Mortgage Applications at 7 a.m.
• New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley speaks at 8 a.m.
• Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George speaks at 9:40 a.m.
• JOLTS at 10 a.m.
• 3-Year Note Auction at 1 p.m.
• 10-Year Note Auction at 1 p.m.
• FOMC Minutes at 2 p.m.

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Garrett Baldwin

About the Author

Browse Garrett's articles | View Garrett's research services

Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, and consultant with degrees from Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Purdue, and Indiana University. He is a seasoned financial and political risk analyst, with a focus on stocks, hedge funds, private equity, blockchain, and housing policy. He has conducted risk assessment projects for clients in 27 countries, and consulted on policy and financial operations for some of the nation's largest financial institutions, including a $1.5 trillion credit fund, a $43 billion credit and auto loan giant, as well as two of the largest Wall Street banks by assets under management.

Garrett joined Money Map Press as an economist and researcher in 2011, specializing in alternative strategies with an emphasis on fundamental and technical analysis.

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