U.S. stocks were lower on Wednesday, the first day of trading in the second quarter. The first quarter came to a disappointing end for investors yesterday, as a 200-point drop in the Dow sent the leading index back into negative territory for 2015.
The continued market volatility drove stock prices down back down yesterday, following a 250+ point jump on Monday. The end result was a first quarter that saw the Dow drop 0.26%. At the end of trading Wednesday, the S&P index stood less than one point higher than it had at the outset of 2015.
Today, markets followed private payrolls data, which showed the private sector created about 15% fewer jobs than expected in March. This is often seen as a precursor to Friday’s government employment report.
This is a short week for Wall Street, with markets closed for the Good Friday holiday.
Here are the final numbers from Wednesday on Wall Street:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,698.18 (-77.94)
NASDAQ: 4,880.23 (-20.66)
S&P 500: 2,059.69 (-8.20)
