Market Rout Sinks Stocks
Originally published: 09.17.15 by Margot Crabtree
The pincers of global economic health and the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates squeezed stocks this session and created wide swings on Wall Street. As our trading session ended Sept. 15, 2015, just ahead of the Fed meeting, volatility still ruled.
The month began with the largest drop in U.S. stocks in almost four years. The sell-off from more news of shrinkage in the Chinese economy came even as economic data in the states showed continuing strength.
The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes grew by 2 percent in July, the third straight month of increases and the most resilient pace in eight years. July single-family starts grew at the fastest rate since late 2007, as well.
The Commerce Department said that single family housing starts grew by 12.8 percent, and overall starts clocked in a 0.2 percent for the month. A day after a 1,000-point drop in the Dow industrials, markets posted the biggest one-day gain in four years.
The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending was up 0.3 percent in July, powered by wages and salaries that improved with the largest increase in eight months, and boosted by items like cars. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index swelled to 101.5 in August, following a July reading of 91.
As August ended, Wall Street closed out its worst month in three years. The Labor Department said that applications for unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to 275,000. Applications have been below the 300,000 mark for six months, a run not seen in 42 years.
In a separate report, the number of available jobs was up sharply in July to 5.75 million, an 8 percent gain. It is the highest level since records started in 2000.
"The debate around the Fed continues, but the Fed will do more damage waiting for December to raise rather than start the normalization process," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities. "If they don't raise rates this week, it's a bad signal."
Exchange |
Symbol |
Company Name |
Price
|
Price
|
Net
|
PercentChange |
52-Week
|
52-Week
|
Shares
|
Market
|
| NASD | AAON | AAON, Inc. | 20.32 | 23.23 | -2.91 | -12.53% | 25.17 | 16.78 | 54230 | 1101953.6 |
| NYSE | ABB | ABB Ltd. | 18.62 | 20.02 | -1.40 | -6.99% | 23.66 | 18.22 | 2220000 | 41336400 |
| NYSE | ARG | Airgas, Inc. | 93.98 | 106.94 | -12.96 | -12.12% | 119.00 | 92.51 | 74650 | 7015607 |
| NYSE | AOS | AO Smith Corp. | 69.74 | 70.29 | -0.55 | -0.78% | 77.43 | 44.60 | 75730 | 5281410.2 |
| NYSE | FIX | Comfort Systems USA, Inc. | 28.95 | 29.33 | -0.38 | -1.30% | 30.32 | 12.63 | 37390 | 1082440.5 |
| NYSE | DOV | Dover Corp. | 61.32 | 63.95 | -2.63 | -4.11% | 86.13 | 55.50 | 156460 | 9594127.2 |
| NASD | ELON | Echelon Corp. | 0.60 | 0.54 | 0.06 | 11.11% | 2.58 | 0.48 | 44100 | 26460 |
| NYSE | DD | E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. | 48.30 | 53.86 | -5.56 | -10.32% | 76.59 | 47.88 | 904840 | 43703772 |
| NYSE | EME | EMCOR Group, Inc. | 46.38 | 47.91 | -1.53 | -3.19% | 48.89 | 38.68 | 62800 | 2912664 |
| NYSE | EMR | Emerson Electric Co. | 46.32 | 49.60 | -3.28 | -6.61% | 65.94 | 44.03 | 657140 | 30438724.8 |
| NYSE | FCAU | Fiat Chrysler | 14.82 | 15.59 | -0.77 | -4.94% | 17.08 | 8.54 | 1290000 | 19117800 |
| NYSE | F | Ford Motor Co. | 14.31 | 14.78 | -0.47 | -3.18% | 16.77 | 10.44 | 3970000 | 56810700 |
| NYSE | GM | General Motors Co. | 30.99 | 31.49 | -0.50 | -1.59% | 38.99 | 24.62 | 1580000 | 48964200 |
| NYSE | HON | Honeywell International, Inc. | 100.32 | 106.08 | -5.76 | -5.43% | 107.41 | 82.89 | 781760 | 78426163.2 |
| NASD | HDSN | Hudson Technologies, Inc. | 3.12 | 3.21 | -0.09 | -2.80% | 4.80 | 2.45 | 32620 | 101774.4 |
| NYSE | IR | Ingersoll-Rand Plc | 56.48 | 61.55 | -5.07 | -8.24% | 70.93 | 52.47 | 265350 | 14986968 |
| NYSE | JCI | Johnson Controls, Inc. | 40.94 | 45.50 | -4.56 | -10.02% | 54.52 | 38.48 | 654070 | 26777625.8 |
| NYSE | LII | Lennox International Inc. | 123.19 | 125.05 | -1.86 | -1.49% | 126.85 | 72.91 | 45030 | 5547245.7 |
| NYSE | LXU | LSB Industries, Inc. | 22.53 | 25.97 | -3.44 | -13.25% | 47.33 | 21.87 | 22790 | 513458.7 |
| NYSE | MTW | Manitowoc Co., Inc. | 17.03 | 17.22 | -0.19 | -1.10% | 27.57 | 14.89 | 136590 | 2326127.7 |
| NYSE | MLI | Mueller Industries, Inc. | 30.42 | 32.08 | -1.66 | -5.17% | 37.18 | 27.10 | 56990 | 1733635.8 |
| NYSE | NWL | Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. | 42.50 | 43.50 | -1.00 | -2.30% | 44.51 | 31.14 | 267800 | 11381500 |
| OTC | NSANY | Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. | 18.95 | 18.78 | 0.17 | 0.91% | 21.75 | 16.65 | 2100000 | 39795000 |
| NASD | NTK | Nortek, Inc. | 77.90 | 74.63 | 3.27 | 4.38% | 92.96 | 70.73 | 16270 | 1267433 |
| NASD | OFLX | OmegaFlex, Inc. | 37.62 | 32.83 | 4.79 | 14.59% | 41.06 | 19.00 | 10090 | 379585.8 |
| NYSE | PH | Parker-Hannifin Corp. | 108.17 | 113.67 | -5.50 | -4.84% | 133.41 | 99.74 | 138420 | 14972891.4 |
| NYSE | RBC | Regal-Beloit Corp. | 63.84 | 72.52 | -8.68 | -11.97% | 81.36 | 62.15 | 44840 | 2862585.6 |
| NYSE | ROK | Rockwell Automation | 106.55 | 116.17 | -9.62 | -8.28% | 127.05 | 98.55 | 134110 | 14289420.5 |
| OTC | SIEGY | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft | 96.36 | 106.60 | -10.24 | -9.61% | 127.60 | 95.27 | 822420 | 79248391.2 |
| NYSE | SPW | SPX Corp. | 56.06 | 65.59 | -9.53 | -14.53% | 103.27 | 52.03 | 41100 | 2304066 |
| NYSE | TXN | Texas Instruments | 48.30 | 50.64 | -2.34 | -4.62% | 59.99 | 41.47 | 1030000 | 49749000 |
| NYSE | UTX | United Technologies Corp. | 92.68 | 98.70 | -6.02 | -6.10% | 124.45 | 87.17 | 890600 | 82540808 |
| NYSE | WSO | Watsco, Inc. | 123.76 | 130.63 | -6.87 | -5.26% | 132.23 | 84.28 | 27570 | 3412063.2 |
The HVACR Business Stock Index swooned with the national markets, and lost 68 points, or 5.76 percent, and closed at 1113.17. Declining issues dominated advancing issues by a 29-to-4 count.
Airgas tumbled 12.96 points, or 12.12 percent. Investment firm Baird cut its rating on ARG to "neutral" from "outperform." Zacks said that eight analysts have given Airgas a price target of $112.75. ARG closed at 93.98, and was the top dollar loser.
Nortek rose 3.27 points, or 4.38 percent. The Wall Street Journal reported that United Technologies is in talks to acquire Nortek. No details of the transaction were revealed, and neither company would report on the speculation. NTK closed at 77.90.
SPX Corp announced that its board has approved the spin-off of its flow technology unit into a separate publicly-traded company. Stakeholders will receive a distribution of one share of the new company, trading under the ticker FLOW, for each share of SPW common stock.
When the transfer is complete, SPW will trade under the ticker SPXC. SPW shed 9.53 points, or 14.53 percent, and was the top percentage loser. SPX Corp closed at 56.06.
Margot Crabtree is president of Trade Trends, Inc., a financial data services provider. She has been offering market analysis with customized stock indices and financial commentaries since 1999. For additional information, visit www.tradetrendsonline.com.