The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell due to ongoing election jitters and a large slump in oil prices. Investors are increasingly concerned by reports that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is losing her support in the polls. With so much uncertainty ahead of the election, gold prices are pushing higher. Gold prices rallied 0.8% and are hovering back above the $1,300 level.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) - commonly referred to as the markets' fear gauge - added 5.5% to 19.6.
After the bell, keep an eye on social media giant Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB). Mark Zuckerberg's firm will report quarterly earnings, and analysts expect a very positive outcome. Wall Street expects an EPS of $0.97 on top of $6.92 billion in revenue. Analysts expect a 70% surge in profitability thanks booming advertising revenue. Money Morning has put together this report on what you can expect from today's big announcement.
Let's look at the final numbers on Wednesday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Dow Jones: 17,959.64; -77.46; -0.43%
S&P 500: 2,097.94; -13.78; -0.65%
Nasdaq: 5,105.57; -48.01; -0.93%
Now, here's a look at today's most important market events and stocks, plus a preview of Thursday's economic calendar.
The Dow Jones dipped another 77 points as investors eyed the latest report from the Federal Reserve on interest rates and the upcoming presidential election. Investors also weighed a weak jobs report issued this morning by Automatic Data Processing (ADP). In October, the private sector added 147,000 positions in October, far short of the 165,000 expected by economists.
The Federal Reserve completed its meeting on monetary policy and, once again, the Fed Open Market Committee chose not to raise interest rates. In a statement, the FOMC said that the case for a rate hike is getting stronger.
Don't Miss: A Special Profit Opportunity with Only Days Left to Get the Details
"The committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has continued to strengthen but decided, for the time being, to wait for some further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives," the FOMC said.
According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, the odds of an interest rate hike in December have topped 73%. Here's everything you need to know about the timing of the Fed's next rate hike.
The price of crude oil today plunged after government data showed the largest surge of domestic crude inventories in history. Last week, crude inventories increased by 14.4 million barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA). The weekly surge dramatically outpaced the one-million-barrel build expected by analysts. The news comes at a time when optimism over the OPEC production deal is fleeting. The WTI crude oil price today fell roughly 2.5%, while the Brent crude oil price dipped 2.2%.
Falling oil prices weighed heavily on energy stocks. Shares of Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) fell by more than 1.5% on the day. Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) dipped 0.2%. Shares of Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD) were off nearly 5% on the day.
Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors is traveling this week, but he stopped to offer his latest insight on what to expect from OPEC and crude prices moving forward. As Moors explains, his sources just indicated that something dramatic is happening in the global energy industry. This has never happened before and it could change everything for crude prices moving forward. Check out the startling rumor that could unleash a new wave of energy profits.
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About the Author
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.