Equities, Commodities & Bonds Finish Lower On First Trading Day Of The Month

The S&P 500 struggled to maintain the psychological 2,000 point level amid sell offs in commodities and bonds. Volume continues to remain light despite a largely anticipated uptick in trading following Labor Day.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30.9 points, or 0.18 percent, to close at 17,068.6.
• The S&P 500 dropped 1.1 points, or 0.05 percent, to close at 2002.3.
• The Nasdaq gave added 17.9 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 4,598.2.

Top Stories

Casino stocks were of the hardest hit Tuesday after a six percent drop in August gaming revenue. The drop in sales comes after an increase in regulation for the semi-autonomous city by the Chinese government. A conference, expected to end in October, should give more detail on future policy.

Shares of Tesla TSLA made an all-time high Monday after the research house Stifel put a $400 price target on the stock. Shares closed 5.8 percent higher at $284.05.

Compuware CPWR will be going private for $2.5 billion, or $10.92 per share. The deal will be led by private equity firm Thoma Bravo. Shares of Compuware last traded hands at 10.59.

Dollar General DG increased its bid for Family Dollar FDO to $80 per share, beating Dollar Tree’s DLTR most recent offer. Dollar General indicated it is willing to pay the $500 million breakup fee and divest up to 1,500 stores.

Stock Movers

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings NCLH shares shot up 11.1 percent to $36.99 after the company announced its plans to acquire Prestige Cruises International for $3.025 billion.

Shares of Staples SPLS got a boost, shooting up 8.1 percent to $12.63. Credit Suisse upgraded Staples from Market Perform to Outperform.

Shares of Conns CONN were down 30.9 percent to $31.00 after the company reported weaker than expected second-quarter earnings and cut its full-year forecast.

Finisar FNSR shares tumbled 6.8 percent to $18.94. Analysts at Jefferies downgraded Finisar from Buy to Hold and lowered the target price from $25 to $19.

Exelixis EXEL was down, falling 55.3 percent to $1.85 after the company announced its plans to lower around 70 percent of its workforce. The company reported that its phase 3 pivotal trial of cabozantinib did not meet primary endpoint.

Global Markets

Asian markets kicked off the week on a high note. The Shanghai index gained 1.4 percent with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng remaining flat with a 0.01 percent drop. Japan’s Nikkei added 1.2 percent in value on the session.

European results, on the other hand, were mixed. The Euro Stoxx index, which tracks 50 blue chips added 0.2 percent, London’s FTSE gained 0.1 percent and France’s CAC gave up 0.03 percent.

Commodities

Crude futures made a massive three percent move down to $93.02. The commodity looks to be sitting near some support.

Gold futures make a similar jump, selling off 1.6 percent. The commodity was last trading at $1,266.50.

Currencies

The Powershares ETF UUP, which tracks the value of the U.S. dollar versus a basket of foreign currencies, jumped 0.3 percent, extending last week’s sharp increase in the value of the dollar.

Bonds

Yields moved higher amid the equity market sell off. The iShares 20+ Year Bond ETF TLT, which tracks the performance of a basket of treasury bonds with maturity greater than 20 years, sold off 1.7 percent.