It is not often that a low beta stock can bring down the entire market. Or make that two. The usually low-beta stocks WalMart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) on Tuesday and Target Corp (NYSE: TGT) in today’s session, have instigated an abrupt end to what many had hoped was a short-term bottom last week.
Now the S&P 500 index futures are only 50 or so handles from breaching the low for the move last Thursday at 3855, the stage is set for another major leg lower. Based on the rolling front month futures contract, the next monthly support is not until the March 2021 low of 3676.75. The equivalent on the cash index comes in at 3723.34, with the February low being 3725.62.
For the session, the index finished in the red by 162 handles at 3922.75. That eclipses the former closing low for the move which was 3927.25.
The biggest gainer of the top components was the smallest loser which was Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM). For the session, the issue declined by $1.46 or 1.6 percent to close at $90.65.
That was over two times better than the cash index’s decline of 4.04 percent.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was the biggest loser of the top components of the index. For the session, the issue declined by $165.01 or 7.2 percent to close at $169.38.
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