Market Commentary: Markets Close Lower to End a Down January

Written by Gary

Closing Market Commentary For 01-30-2015

Gary is off , and the market close comes from our syndication partner, Investing.com.

U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Utilities, Consumer Goods and Technology sectors led shares lower.

At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.45%, while the S&P 500 index lost 1.30%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 1.03%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Visa Inc (NYSE:V), which rose 2.79% or 6.91 points to trade at 254.91 at the close. Meanwhile, Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) fell 0.04% or 0.03 points to end at 79.97 and AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) was down 0.12% or 0.04 points to 32.92 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which fell 3.83% or 1.61 points to trade at 40.40 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 3.42% or 1.17 points to end at 33.04 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) was down 3.14% or 0.85 points to 26.36.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) which rose 13.71% to 354.53, Biogen Idec Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which was up 10.17% to settle at 389.16 and Nabors Industries Ltd (NYSE:NBR) which gained 8.48% to close at 11.51.

The worst performers were PACCAR Inc (NASDAQ:PCAR) which was down 6.15% to 60.11 in late trade, Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) which lost 5.76% to settle at 47.32 and PulteGroup Inc (NYSE:PHM) which was down 5.64% to 20.59 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Gulf Resources Inc (NASDAQ:GURE) which rose 47.90% to 1.760, Books-A-Million Inc (NASDAQ:BAMM) which was up 44.83% to settle at 2.520 and Axion Power International Inc (NASDAQ:AXPW) which gained 39.83% to close at 0.81.

The worst performers were ADA-ES Inc (NASDAQ:ADES) which was down 46.47% to 10.61 in late trade, One Horizon (NASDAQ:OHGI) which lost 28.82% to settle at 1.21 and Hawaiian Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:HA) which was down 26.97% to 19.44 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2169 to 626; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2088 fell and 686 advanced, while 8 ended unchanged.

Shares in ADA-ES Inc (NASDAQ:ADES) fell to 52-week lows; down 46.47% or 9.21 to 10.61. Shares in One Horizon (NASDAQ:OHGI) fell to all time lows; losing 28.82% or 0.49 to 1.21.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 11.99% to 21.01.

Gold for April delivery was up 2.33% or 29.30 to $1285.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 7.41% or 3.30 to hit $47.83 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 6.92% or 3.40 to trade at $52.53 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.24% to 1.1291, while USD/JPY fell 0.77% to 117.40.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.04% at 95.00.

Read the complete weekly wrap up from Investing.com at GEI Investing to be published this evening.

Repeating some market sentiment numbers from yesterday:

Investing.com members’ sentiments are 41 % Bearish.

CNN‘s Fear & Greed Index is 24. Above 50 = greed, below 50 = fear. (At ‘Extreme Fear’) (Chart Here)

Investors Intelligence sets the breath at 51.8 % bullish with the status at Bear Confirmed. (Chart Here ) I expect a market reversal at or before ~25.0 should the markets start to descend.

StockChart.com Overbought / Oversold Index ($NYMO) is at -8.16. (Chart Here) But anything below -30 / -40 is a concern of going deeper. Oversold conditions on the NYSE McClellan Oscillator usually bounce back at anything over -50 and reverse after reaching +40 oversold.

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Written by Gary