Markets Holding Their Breath for Tax Reform

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U.S. equities finished little changed on Tuesday as news flow was light as traders focused on the relatively sleepy performance by Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen. She highlighted the uncertainties surrounding the inflation outlook but reiterated that transitory factors are holding prices back and that policymakers should wary about moving too gradually to normalize interest rates.

The latter comment was seen as a relatively hawkish comment; but not enough to shake stocks out of their complacency.

In the end, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1%, the S&P 500 gained a fraction, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2% and the Russell 2000 gained 0.3%. Treasury bonds were slightly weaker, the dollar was stronger, gold lost 0.7% and oil fell 0.7%.

Breadth was positive with advancers outpacing decliners by 1.3 to 1 with volume at 87% of the 30-day average. Technology stocks bounced back from some recent weakness to rise 0.4% while telecoms were the laggards, down 0.9%.

Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL) gained 2.9% on a third-quarter earnings and revenue beat highlighting higher cruise ticket prices. On the downside, Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) fell 6.5% after comp-store growth at the Italian eatery missed expectations on a slight traffic decline.

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The biggest news in an otherwise dead quiet day was the turnaround by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) after weeks of weakness driven by production delays for the iPhone X, tepid demand for the iPhone 8 launch, and LTE connectivity issues for the Apple Watch.

Localytics said iPhone 8 Plus adoption was actually tracking higher, no doubt on folks wanting to get the latest camera technology without the wait for the flagship model.

Looking ahead, all eyes are on the release of Trump’s tax cut proposal as a renewed effort on healthcare reform stalled in the Senate.

Check out Serge Berger’s Trade of the Day for Sept. 27.

Today’s Trading Landscape

To see a list of the companies reporting earnings today, click here.

For a list of this week’s economic reports due out, click here.

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Anthony Mirhaydari is the founder of the Edge (ETFs) and Edge Pro (Options) investment advisory newsletters. Free two- and four-week trial offers have been extended to InvestorPlace readers.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/09/dow-jones-loses-four-days-straight/.

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