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Market Overview

Financials and Oil Stocks Lead Market Plunge

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Another day, another freefall.

All U.S. Indexes are currently undergoing massive selloff, as traders and investors weigh the negative implications of Standard & Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt.

The S&P 500 (SPX) has lost 44.8 points (3.74%) thus far in today's session, currently trading at 1,155.28.

The Dow Jones Industrials Average ($DJI) is currently trading down 2.9% from yesterday's close to 11,109.48.

The NASDAQ (COMP) is currently the weakest of the group, down 4% on the session to 2,431.20.

On the heels of Friday's big downgrade, S&P came out today and also downgraded Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and pretty much any other agency that has any connection to long-term U.S. debt. S&P noted that the downgrade was due to the “direct reliance” of Fannie and Freddie on the U.S. government.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac account for most of the newly generated mortgage loans in the United States, and currently own or guarantee 31 million home loans worth an estimated $5 trillion.

Despite the downgrade, investors are still moving money into U.S. treasuries to escape the carnage in the equities market. Yields on 10-year treasury notes, which closed at 2.563% on Friday, are currently at 2.51%. 30-year Treasury notes are currently at 3.835% - slightly lower than Friday's close at $3.85%.

Gold (/GC) and silver (/SI) futures are also benefitting from the downgrade, as both commodities are jumping over 3% in today's action. Silver, although well off of the session high ($40.40), is currently up 3.1% on the session to $39.42. Gold is currently trading up 3.7% to $1.712.90, slightly off of the all time high of $1,718.20, which was set earlier today.

Crude oil (/QM), on the other hand, is following the market into negative territory, currently down 3.9% to $83.52. Crude oil has not traded this low since November 23rd of last year.

As a result of the recent downgrades and the plunge in crude oil, the two areas of the equities market that are being hit hardest in today's session are the Financials and Oil & Gas Sectors – currently down 5.5% and 4.4% respectively.

The weakest stocks in the S&P 500 Financials Sector in today's action currently are:

1) Bank Of America (NYSE: BAC): Shares of Bank of America are currently trading down 14.5% from Friday's close to $6.99.

2) SLM (NYSE: SLM): Shares of SLM are currently trading down 11.7% from Friday's close to $12.40.

3) Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW): Shares of Genworth are currently trading down 11.4% from Friday's close to $6.01.

4) Regions Financial (NYSE: RF): Shares of Regions are currently trading down 9.6% from Friday's close to $4.61.

5) Citigroup (NYSE: C): Shares of Citigroup are currently trading down 8.8% from Friday's close to $30.51.

The weakest stocks in the S&P 500 Oil & Gas Sector in today's action currently are:

1) Sunoco (NYSE: SUN): Shares of Sunoco are currently trading down 9.8% from Friday's close to $30.67.

2) Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC): Shares of Marathon are currently trading down 9.2% from Friday's close to $33.87.

3) Tesoro (NYSE: TSO): Shares of Tesoro are currently trading down 9% from Friday's close to $19.55.

4) Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO): Shares of Valero are currently trading down 7.2% from Friday's close to $19.21.

5) Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE: COG): Shares of Cabot are currently trading down 7% from Friday's close to $62.21.

 

Related Articles ($SPX + $COMP)

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Posted-In: Long Ideas News Bonds Short Ideas Futures Contracts Treasuries Global

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