WEAK SEMI'S LEAVE MARKET MIXED

11/16/18

Investors rode the volatility wave into the weekend today as an opening drop in stocks was bought after the White House reported that China was ready to make a deal on trade. The DJIA turned a 142-point loss into a 200+point gain before coming off the highs in the afternoon.

The NASDAQ struggled throughout after semiconductors NVIDIA (NVDA) and Applied Materials (AMAT) trimmed estimates on forward earnings guidance.

A downgrade of Home Depot (HD) and Lowes (LOW) by Merrill Lynch kept pressure on retail stocks and the Consumer Discretionary (XLY) sector was one of the day's laggards. More selling in shares of Facebook (FB) left Communication Services (XLC) as the worst performing sector.

The Dow pushed higher for a second day adding 123.95 points (+0.49%) and closed at 25413.22 while the S&P 500 added 6.07 points (+0.22%) to 2736.27. The NASDAQ slipped 11.16 points (-0.15%) and settled at 7247.87.