Stocks Smashed As Dollar Strengthens

Following Wednesday’s rally, stocks sold off sharply.

This marks the third 100-plus point drop in the Dow over the past four sessions. The dollar continues to gain ground following Wednesday's four-year high.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 264.3 points, or 1.54 percent, to close at 16,945.
• The S&P 500 dropped 32.3 points, or 1.62 percent, to close at 1,966.
• The Nasdaq gave up 88.5 points, or 1.94 percent, to close at 4,467.

Top Stories

Facebook’s FB $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp is supposedly approved by eurozone antitrust regulators. Investors were uncertain if the deal would go through after the commission asked a second round of questions. According to Reuters, the announcement will be released on October 3.

Apple AAPL shares were of the hardest hit Thursday, dropping 3.8 percent. The sell off is related to reports that the iPhone 6 Plus is bending in owners’ pockets. Because Apple is one of the most heavily weighted stocks in the Nasdaq index, it is a key cause of the sharp decline.

Stock Movers

LipoScience LPDX shares shot up 62.7 percent to $5.19 after the company agreed to be acquired by LabCorp LH for a purchase price of $5.25 per share in cash.

Shares of Radiant Logistics RLGT got a boost, shooting up 10.6 percent to $3.65 on Q4 results.

GoPro GPRO shares were also up, gaining 3.6 percent to $81.31 apparently touched off by rumors the company will launch a new version of its action camera in time for the holiday shopping season.

Shares of HB Fuller Co FUL were down 14.3 percent to $37.68 after the company reported downbeat fiscal third-quarter results and issued a weak Q4 earnings forecast.

Scholastic SCHL shares tumbled 5.7 percent to $32.09 after the company reported a wider loss for the fiscal first quarter.

OMNOVA Solutions OMN was down, falling 18.5 percent to $5.71 after the company posted a drop in its Q3 net income.

Global Markets

Asian markets finished mostly higher, despite weakness in domestic futures. Shanghai gained 0.07 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.64 percent and Japan’s Nikkei rallied 1.28 percent.

Europe, on the other hand, sold off sharply on US losses. The Euro Stoxx index, which tracks 50 blue chips, sold off 1.3 percent, London’s FTSE dropped 0.99 percent and France’s CAC plummeted 1.32 percent.

Commodities

The sharp down tick in equity prices was met with a mixed commodities reaction. Crude oil dropped 0.29 percent to $92.53 while natural gas rallied 1.33 percent to $3.96.

Gold gave up almost all of Wednesday’s gains and is once again sitting near lows. Futures were last trading at $1,216.27, down 0.39 percent on the session.

Currencies

Not helping equity prices, the dollar continues to shoot higher. After making a four-year high Wednesday, the dollar rose an additional 0.43 percent, per the U.S. Dollar Index. The index last traded at 85.12.