The Dow Jones Industrial average saw its five day winning streak come to an end today as China was back in the news, which didn’t bode well for Wall Street. Weaker-than-expected Chinese trade data increased investor worry about international economic growth.
Ben Pace, chief investment officer at HPM Partners said:
“I think a little bit of profit-taking after the run-up that we’ve seen. We’re in a bit of a news vacuum this week. Earnings are all done. China trade data was shockingly bad. … The question keeps coming out. How bad is the slowdown in China?”
Also putting a drag on the market today was oil, which settled down $1.40, or 3.7% to close at $36.50 a barrel after analysts from Goldman Sachs said the the recent rise in oil prices was unsustainable and U.S. stockpiles could increase.
According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve, businesses are reporting stronger profits but half of of the small businesses said they came up short with financing over the past year. That means businesses received smaller loans than they had asked for from banks, indicating tough lending conditions still exit in the business world.
Here are the final numbers from Tuesday, 3/8/16 on Wall Street
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,964.10 (-109.85 / -0.64 %)
NASDAQ: 4,648.83 (-59.43 / -1.26 %)
S&P 500: 1,979.26 (-22.50 / -1.12 %)
