Trump's Tweet Tanks S&P 500: Stocks Fall Sharply as President Puts Stimulus Talks on Hold
If the pen is mightier than the sword, the tweet is mightiest of all. The S&P 500 index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) finished trading on Oct. 6 down 48 points, or 1.4%, after President Donald Trump announced in a Tweet that he was halting negotiations on additional economic stimulus until after the election. Prior to the announcement, stocks were on track to have a solid day, with the index up more than 0.5% with just over one hour remaining in the trading session.
Only one sector finished the day higher, with the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF gaining 0.8%, and 6 of the 10 best performers today coming from the sector. Electric utilities Edison International (NYSE: EIX) and Alliant Energy (NASDAQ: LNT), both up just over 2%, were two of the top utility stocks. Cruise line stocks were on track to lead the way today, with Carnival (NYSE: CCL) shares spending most of the day up more than 5%, but closed up 1.4% as the thesis of economic stimulus helping prop up struggling industries came a bit unraveled.
On the downside, Boeing (NYSE: BA) shares lost 6.8% after the company cut its 10-year forecast for commercial aircraft sales, pulling American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) shares 4.5% and 3.7% lower too. A bevy of oil stocks, including Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ: FANG) and Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) fell late in trading as the President's tweet cast doubt on the oil industry's ability to ride out a downturn that may persist without economic stimulus in the near term, wiping out earlier gains in crude oil prices that put U.S. oil futures briefly back above $40 per barrel.
Source Fool.com
