US stocks slump led by technology sector

All 30 Dow components settled in the red

U.S. stocks slumped on Thursday, 25 September 2014 led by the tech sector, slapping the major benchmarks with their biggest one-day loss in almost two months. Other worries centered on the Russia-Ukraine and Mideast conflicts as well as a weak U.S. durable-goods report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average took a hit, falling 264.26 points, or 1.5%, to close at 16,945.80. Nasdaq Composite declined by 88.47 points, or 1.9%, to end at 4,466.75. The S&P 500 slid 32.31 points, or 1.6%, to finish at 1,965.99.

All 30 Dow components settled in the red. All S&P sectors endured losses.

Equities began the day with modest losses and continued heading lower through the first 90 minutes of the session. The energy space displayed relative strength in the early going, but fell in line with the market as the session wore on.

Shares of Apple tumbled 3.8% to end below the 50-day moving average for the first time since April 2014.

A feature in the market place this week has been the surging U.S. dollar versus most of the other major world currencies. The U.S. dollar index hit a four-year high on Thursday, while the Euro currency dropped to a 14-month low against the greenback. The dollar has been lifted by recent U.S. economic data that has been mostly upbeat, combined with some downbeat economic data coming out of the European Union, Japan and other major industrialized countries.

Economic data at Wall Street included Initial Claims and Durable Orders on Thursday. The initial claims level increased by 12,000 to 293,000 from an upwardly revised 281,000 (from 280,000), while the consensus expected an increase to 300,000. Once again, the Department of Labor reported that there were no special factors impacting the claims level, which implies labor market conditions are at, or very near, full employment

Durable goods orders fell 18.2% in August after increasing a slightly downwardly revised 22.5% (from 22.6%) in July, while the consensus expected a decline of 16.3% A surge in aircraft orders in July resulted in the largest monthly increase in overall durable goods last month. The normal payback period came immediately and resulted in the largest monthly decline in overall orders in August.

Precious metals ended in a mixed mode on Thursday, 25 September 2014 at Comex. Gold prices reversed losses to rebound on Thursday in response to a broad-based selloff in U.S. stocks. The yellow metal was lifted on short covering and bargain hunting after hitting a nine-month low in overnight trading. The U.S. dollar index backed well down from its daily high and the U.S. stock indexes sold off sharply, which further encouraged the gold market bulls to step up and do some buying.

Gold for December delivery rose $2.40 to settle at $1,221.90 an ounce. December silver declined 26 cents to $17.38 an ounce.

Crude oil futures declined on Thursday 25 September 2014 at Nymex. Prices dropped on worries about additional supplies coming from Libya, while gasoline futures rallied due to a refinery outage.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in November settled at $92.53 a barrel, down 27 cents, or 0.3%.

Participation was above average with nearly 720 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Tomorrow, the third estimate of Q3 GDP will be released at 8:30 ET (consensus 4.6%), while the final reading of the Michigan Sentiment index for September will cross the wires at 9:55 ET (consensus 85.0).

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