US Stock Market Recap: Dow And S&P 500 See Minimal Gains

It was a rare day for the markets as the day ended without a huge gain or loss. Instead Wall Street saw a calm ending to the day. The Nasdaq (^IXIC) was the only index of the major three that saw a dip this Tuesday, as a result of news that companies have been and will continue to cut back on technology spending. The Nasdaq fell a 0.50% and closed at 1464 points. On the other hand the Dow (^DJI) and S&P 500 (^GSPC) saw minimal gains. The Dow was in the green 0.43%, closing at 8479 points. The S&P saw a rise of 0.66% and finished trading at 857 points. For the Dow and S&P this marks the third straight day of positive trading.

As far as other Indices, the Russell 2000 (^RUT) gained 1.46%, closing at 443. Overseas, Britain’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE) went up 0.44% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) went up by 5.22%.

The price of crude dropped by $3.73 to finish at 50.77 a barrel. Gasoline prices are now at $1.885 which is a price not seen since 2004. Natural gas settled at $6.386 on Tuesday as well.

Home prices continued their nose dive according to the S&P/Case-Shiller which released information stating that prices in the third quarter fell by 16.6%. This beats the fall during the second quarter in which prices fell 15.1%.

The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department made news by unveiling new programs to offer help to consumer debt and home mortgages. The plans will provide $800 billion, some of which will be going to buying direct obligations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The intention of the plan is to ease the credit markets and reduce the ongoing fear of lending.

In corporate news, network equipment maker Cisco (CSCO) dropped 6% in share value. The sell off came after it announced that it would shut down offices in Canada and US for five days as a part of their previously announced plan to cut costs by $1 billion. The shut down is planned to begin December 29 and end on January 2.

Disclosure: The fund the author is associated with holds a long position with CSCO

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