Dow Jones News: Volatility Increases After President Trump Targets the Drug Industry

Dow Jones news  In Dow Jones news today, the stock market remained volatile because of concerns about President Donald Trump targeting price competition in the U.S. drug industry.

Despite the two-day losing streak, the CBOE Volatility Index finished only slightly up on the day.

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

Dow Jones: 20,924.76; -29.58; -0.14%

S&P 500: 2,368.38; -6.93; -0.29%

Nasdaq: 5,833.93; -15.25; -0.26%

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

Dow Jones News Today: Dow Slides as Rally Slows

The Dow Jones dropped 29 points Tuesday. Once again, President Trump's Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) feed was the catalyst of yet another downturn. This time, the POTUS hammered drug companies over high prices. President Trump said he is looking for new ways to boost competition and reduce the cost of medications.

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Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK), and Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) all fell on the day. Shares of iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (ETF) (Nasdaq: IBB) dropped over 1% on the day.

The series of tweets came on the same day that drug companies were already under pressure after congressional Republicans released a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Despite uncertainty over what the replacement would do to the healthcare industry, shares of the nation's largest health insurance companies went largely unchanged. Shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) climbed over 2%.

Banking stocks were also sliding as investors are taking profits off the table. Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) were both off as investors speculate on the timing of the next interest rate hike.

With the U.S. Federal Reserve set for its next meeting March 14-15, Chair Janet Yellen said the only potential roadblock to a rate hike this month would be a weak February jobs report. The U.S. Labor Department will release the official unemployment report Friday. CME's FedWatch tool has set an 84.1% probability of a rate hike in March.

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What would a rate hike mean for your money?

We break down the impact of a March interest rate hike, right here.

Crude oil prices were down as investors continue to weigh Saudi Arabia's statements on the OPEC agreement to curb excessive crude production. During an energy conference in Houston, Saudi Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih said OPEC's agreement has helped balance supply and demand. However, it appears Saudi Arabia believes that OPEC only has reached its lofty compliance targets due to its willingness to cut production below 10 million barrels per day (bpd). Traders are looking for clues into the stability of the agreement as OPEC plans to meet again in May.

Top Story: Why 2017 Is the Year for Investing in Renewables

The WTI crude oil price today dipped 0.1%. Brent prices fell 0.2%.

Meanwhile, the Bitcoin price is falling.

The commodity slumped almost $100 after an official at the People's Bank of China (PBOC) suggested the central bank should consider blacklisting Bitcoin exchanges that violate national rules.

Here's what you need to know.

But the big story is Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT).

Shares were slightly up today on news of a devastating outage to the company's servers. Reports around the globe said there were outages for users of Skype, Hotmail, Outlook, and Microsoft Office 365. The firm reported it had been working on a solution to address the issue throughout the day.

Stock Market News and Top Stocks to Watch Today: March 7, 2017

  • Shares of Dish Network Corp. (Nasdaq: DISH) gained more than 4% after the satellite TV company announced it will join the S&P 500.
  • Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) fell more than 10% and remained below its opening price after its IPO. The social media company is under pressure after a major advocacy group representing institutional investors asked to bar companies that fail to provide voting rights to shareholders on the open market from their stock benchmarks.
  • In earnings news, watch for reports from Urban Outfitters Inc. (Nasdaq: URBN), H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) and AeroVironment Inc. (Nasdaq: AVAV).
  • Finally in deal news, Nimble Storage (NYSE: NMBL) rallied more than 46% on news that it will sell itself for $1.09 billion in cash to Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE). Shares of HPE stock fell slightly on the news. Nimble will report quarterly earnings after the bell.

Wednesday's U.S. Economic Calendar (all times EST)

  • ADP Employment Report at 8:15 a.m.
  • Productivity and Costs at 8:30 a.m.
  • Wholesale Trade at 10:00 a.m.
  • 10-Year Note Auction at 1:00 p.m.

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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.

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