Why Sunedison Inc (SUNE), Aetna Inc. (AET) and Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) Are 3 of Today’s Worst Stocks

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With no major news to use as a catalyst, stocks waffled all around the breakeven line all day today before settling in to a close just a bit lower than Wednesday’s closing levels. The S&P 500 finished the session at 2,081.24, down 0.11%.

Why Sunedison Inc. (SUNE), Aetna Inc. (AET) and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) Are 3 of Today's Worst StocksIt wasn’t a near-breakeven day for all stocks, though. Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX), Sunedison Inc (NYSE:SUNE) and Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET) took significant hits, and as a nice change of pace, none of the pullbacks were prompted by bad earnings news.

Aetna (AET)

Just for the record, practically all integrated hospital and healthcare plan stocks dipped deep into the red ink today, including HCA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HCA), Anthem Inc. (NYSE:ANTM) and UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH). But, between the size of its loss, the volume behind its pullback and the sheer amount of widespread pain it dished out, Aetna was the proverbial poster child for the group’s selloff today, with AET losing more than 6.5% of its value.

The prod for the pullback from AET was the same for all these names … UnitedHealth Group warned investors today that’s it’s curtailing its efforts to enroll customers that employ qualification rules established by the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. These enrollees have cost the insurer far more than expected, so much so that UnitedHealth Group is even considering dropping its offer from the list of Obamacare plans in 2017.

That news spread quickly and infected its peers and rivals today, including AET, as the market now has reason to worry other players in the arena are facing the same headwind.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX)

Just when you think it can’t get any worse for Freeport-McMoRan, it gets worse.

The company, which primarily mines copper, has seen FCX shares lose ground since early 2011 when copper prices took a similar turn for the worst. For a brief moment this year, it looked like the bleeding finally might stop, but with copper prices resuming their downtrend and new fiscal trouble surfacing on a regular basis now, the pain began again in early October. Now the stock’s knocking on the door of new 52-week lows again.

Today’s leg of the pullback from FCX was mostly spurred by copper’s move to multiyear lows on Wednesday, and its failure to rebound on Thursday. FCX finished the day down more than 4%.

Sunedison Inc (SUNE)

Last but not least, beaten-down solar power company Sunedison — already in a longer-term downtrend — was sent lower again today after investors learned the company wasn’t an acquisition target after all. SUNE fell 12% on Thursday, bringing the four-month rout to a whopping 90%.

Rumors had surfaced that private equity firm Blackstone Group was interested in making a significant investment in the company. But, Blackstone Group made a point of letting the market know on Wednesday night that those rumors were entirely false.

That confirmation from Blackstone was also disappointing news for SUNE shareholders, in that the company is increasingly in need of cash and a deal with Blackstone would have been a quality lifeline.

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2015/11/sunedison-inc-sune-aetna-inc-aet-freeport-mcmoran-inc-fcx-3-todays-worst-stocks/.

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