Analytics, News, and Forecasts for CFD Markets: stock news — 02-04-2018.

Major US stock indices dropped significantly on Monday, offsetting the high growth rates of the Nasdaq index for the year and the first time sending the S & P 500 control index below the level of technical supervision in almost two months.

A certain influence on the dynamics of trading was provided by the US. As it became known, the index of business activity in the US manufacturing sector in March signaled a strong improvement in production conditions in the US. Release and new orders continued to grow significantly, despite the fact that the growth rate has slowed slightly since February. Job creation also remained strong and unfinished orders grew as a result of the recent rise in customer demand. Business confidence, meanwhile, has risen to the highest level since February 2015. Nevertheless, inflationary pressures intensified, with both procurement and selling prices accelerating to multi-year peaks. The seasonally adjusted PMI in the US manufacturing sector from IHS Markit (PMI) rose to 55.6 in March, compared with 55.3 in February. The last value of PMI marked the strongest improvement in the manufacturing sector since March 2015. The average PMI for the three months of 2018, meanwhile, showed the best quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2014.

At the same time, a report published by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed that in March, activity in the US manufacturing sector fell more than economists predicted. The PMI index for the manufacturing sector fell in March to 59.3 points against 60.8 in February. Analysts had expected the figure to drop to 60.1 points. In addition, more detailed information showed: the price index rose in March to 78.1 from 74.2 in February, the employment index fell to 57.3 from 59.7, the index of new orders fell to 61.9 from 64.2, the index production fell to 61.0 from 62.0, and the stock index fell to 55.5 from 56.7.

Almost all components of the DOW index finished trading in the red (28 of 30). Outsider were shares of Intel Corporation (INTC, -6.17%). Only UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH, + 1.14%) and McDonald's Corporation (MCD, + 0.43%) showed growth.

Almost all sectors of the S & P index recorded a fall. The largest decrease was in the services sector (-2.9%). Only the conglomerate sector grew (+ 0.6%).

At closing:

Dow 23,639.44 -463.67 -1.92%

S&P 500 2,581.67 -59.20 -2.24%

Nasdaq 100 6,870.12 -193.33 -2.74%

Before the bell: S&P futures -0.44%, NASDAQ futures -0.82%

U.S. stock-index futures fell on Monday, weighed down by concerns of escalating trade tensions, following the reports about imposition by China of tariffs on the U.S. agricultural and steel products in response to U.S. duties on imports of steel and aluminum.

Global Stocks:

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

Facebook (FB) target lowered to $138 from $152 at Pivotal Research Group

Alphabet (GOOG) target lowered to $1040 from $1110 at Pivotal Research Group