Stocks slide after Iranain top military leader killed by US

FAN Editor

The specter of a potential armed conflict with Iran loomed over the stock market Friday which closed with triple-digit losses but off the worst levels of the session.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average, trimmed a loss of over 300 points, to finish the session at 235.07 or 0.8 percent. The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 slipped around 0.7 percent.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 28634.88 -233.92 -0.81%
SP500 S&P 500 3234.85 -23.00 -0.71%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 9020.769795 -71.42 -0.79%

Oil, traditionally the most volatile commodity in times of Mideast tensions, saw upticks most of Friday. West Texas Intermediate crude closed up 3.1 percent at $63.05 a barrel. The global benchmark, March Brent crude saw similar gains with a rise of 3.6 percent and a close at $68.60 per barrel.

Energy stocks, which opened higher as a group, ended the session mixed.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
XOM EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION 70.33 -0.57 -0.80%
CVX CHEVRON CORP. 121.01 -0.42 -0.35%
MRO MARATHON OIL 13.75 +0.07 +0.51%
HAL HALLIBURTON COMPANY 24.76 +0.08 +0.32%

It was not all bleak on the exchanges as shares of defense contractors Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin were up more than 5 percent and 4 percent respectively after the team at Citigroup noted that rising tensions in the region could validate the need for a bigger defense budget.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
NOC NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION 375.01 +19.31 +5.43%
LMT LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION 413.74 +14.37 +3.60%

As has happened in the past, investors made a flight to safety amidst rising tension, abandoning anything seen as a risky asset for long-standing safe havens, such as gold and U.S. Treasuries. The yield on the 10-Year slipped to 1.792 percent.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
GLD SPDR GOLD SHARES TRUST – EUR ACC 145.86 +1.91 +1.33%

In other corporate news, Tesla shares rose to a record after reporting that deliveries exceeded expectations.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
TSLA TESLA INC. 443.01 +12.75 +2.96%

While concern about the Mideast remained paramount, other factors were at play for the market downturn. Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting were released. While the minutes revealed a sense of optimism regarding the economy and ease in U.S.-China trade tensions, but there were also concerns about slow growth.

To that end, Friday also saw worse-than-expected U.S. manufacturing data. The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 47.2 percent, its lowest number in more than 10 years.

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