Market Wrap For Monday, September 16th: Investors Seem Ignorant To Looming Obstacles

Despite monstrous looming economic hurdles, equity markets pushed higher.

On Wednesday the Federal Reserve is expected to announce reduction of its 85 billion dollar bond buying program, confrontation with Syria is still a possibility, and the government is expected to run out of money next month.

The Nasdaq had been outperforming the Dow and S&P for the past two months, but is now showing signs of as Apple AAPL, which seems to make up half the index, is tumbling.

Major Averages

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52 points, or 0.34 percent, to just below 15,388.

The S&P 500 climbed 3 points, or 0.17 percent, to 1,669.

The Nasdaq added a little less than 6 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at 3,502.

The Russell 3000 rose points, or percent.

Industrial Production

Industrial production was the only significant piece of economic data to come out today.The metric showed 0.4 percent growth on August compared to July, but economists were looking for 0.5 percent. However, this is a big jump from July, which showed no growth.

Other News

After the fiasco on the Nasdaq several weeks ago, options trading was once again interrupted. Specifically on the OPRA, so options traded on the Nasdaq, NYSE, CBOE, and BATS.

Two shooters who are allegedly still at large killed 12 people in a navy ship yard in Washington DC. Officials are urging the public to stay indoors.

Stock Movers

Volume and Volatility

After last week’s non existent volume, traders began returning to their desks. At last check 86 million shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY traded hands, compared to the three month average of 125 million.

The CBOE measure of volatility (VIX) was mostly unchanged on the day, up 0.35 percent to 14.22 nearing the close.

Commodities

Crude oil prices took a big hit today as the war premium wares off. Late in the day, WTI crude futures were down 1.78 percent to $106.28. Brent crude contracts lost 1.61 percent and were trading at $109.90.

Precious metals were mostly unchanged following last week’s sell off. At last check, COMEX gold futures had gained 0.07 percent to $1,309.50 while silver had added 0.44 percent to $21.82. Platinum sport froll 1.16 percent nearing the equity market close.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar was basically unchanged on Tuesday. Heading into the close, the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, was down 0.25 percent to $21.93.

The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last up 0.32 percent to $1.3337. Other movers included the AUD/USD which rose 0.75 percent and the USD/Turkish Libra, which dropped 1.28 percent.

Global Markets

Asian markets were mixed overnight. The Shanghai index fell 0.22 percent with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 1.47 percent. Japan’s volatile Nikkei moved up just 0.12 percent on the day.

European markets recorded gains for the day. The Euro Stoxx index, which tracks 50 euro zone blue chips rallied 0.96 percent. London’s FTSE added 0.59 percent, and France’s CAC gained 0.92 percent.