FYI: U.S. stocks edged lower Thursday, pressured by disappointing readings on the state of the U.S. and European economies.
A measure of how much U.S. businesses are investing fell for the fourth time in five months at the end of 2018, the Commerce Department said Thursday, a sign of waning confidence among business owners. Meanwhile, sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. fell in January, marking the third consecutive month of declining sales, the National Association of Realtors said.
Data out of Europe was similarly downbeat, as Eurozone manufacturing entered its first downturn since mid-2013, further darkening the regional picture.
The shaky figures out of both the U.S. and Europe spooked some traders. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 163 points, or 0.40%, while the S&P 500 ended down .35% and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.39%.
Only three of the S&P 500 Sectors, led by Utilities, were in positive territory. Energy was the big loser down 1.5%.
Thursday’s losses threaten to wipe out the indexes’ weekly gains. If the Nasdaq and Dow industrials end the week lower, it would finish an impressive run of eight consecutive weekly gains. So far this year, the Nasdaq is up 13% through Wednesday’s close, while the Dow has risen 11%.
Indexes in Asia were positive for most of the day, though gains in Chinese markets reversed in the closing minutes, leading the Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen indexes to close down 0.3%. Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.2% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed up 0.7%.
In commodities, gold was sharply lower, after three consecutive sessions of gains. Gold futures were down 1.3%. U.S.-traded crude slipped 0.5% to $56.86 a barrel after government data showed a fifth straight weekly rise in crude supplies.
Regards,
Ted
WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-pause-for-breath-after-recent-climb-11550741213Bloomberg Evening Briefing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-21/your-evening-briefingBloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-20/asia-stocks-head-for-muted-start-yuan-advances-markets-wrap?srnd=premiumIBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/nasdaq-today-ends-win-streak/Reuters:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/economic-data-healthcare-shares-pressure-wall-street-idUSKCN1QA1SWCNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/21/stock-market-us-china-trade-fed-minutes-and-economic-data-in-focus.htmlU.K.:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-tugged-down-by-mining-and-energy-sectors-2019-02-21/printEurope:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/europes-markets-struggle-against-downbeat-earnings-economic-news-2019-02-21/printAsia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-stocks-rise-after-report-of-outline-to-end-us-china-trade-war-2019-02-20/printBonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/21/bond-market-treasury-yields-eye-us-china-trade-talks.htmlCurrencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/21/forex-markets-dollar-fed-minutes-trade-in-focus.htmlOil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/21/oil-markets-opec-cuts-global-economy-in-focus.htmlGold
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/21/gold-markets-dollar-federal-reserve-meeting-minutes-in-focus.htmlWSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/usMajor ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitorSPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-trackerSPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectorsCurrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx 
