US Stocks Ended Low as 2015 Came to an End, SPY Fell 1%
SPY fell by 1%
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the Direxion Daily S&P500 Bull 3X ETF (SPXL) fell by 1% and 2.9%, respectively, on Thursday, December 31, 2015. The stock market’s major indexes fell due to soft economic data released on the last trading day in 2015.
The above graph shows the performances of SPY’s component sectors. They remained red on December 31, 2015. The only exception was the energy sector.
The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) rose by 0.5% on the day after the Baker Hughes rig count for December 31, 2015, fell by two rigs to account for 698 rigs in the US. For the same period last year, the count was 1,113 rigs. This data lifted the energy sector on December 31. Therefore, oil and gas producing companies’ stock, namely, Southwestern Energy (SWN), Range Resources (RRC), Williams Companies (WMB), and ONEOK (OKE) rose by 12.9%, 7.3%, 5.3%, and 5.2%, respectively, on December 31.
Economic front
The initial jobless claims for the week ending December 26, 2015, came in at 287,000—compared to the consensus estimate of 270,000. As reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, the claims rose by 20,000 from the prior reading of 267,000. The increase in the jobless claims suggests deteriorating conditions in the labor market.
The Chicago PMI (purchasing managers’ index) reading for December 2015 fell to 42.9. This is far below the breakeven reading of 50. A reading below 50 implies a contraction in the business sector. This was the seventh contraction in 2015. Due to the soft economic data, US equities fell as oil prices’ rebound felt short on the day.
Next, we’ll look at SPY’s key stocks on December 31.
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