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Aaron Task
Oil rose to its best level since Oct. 2, gold established its highest level since June 1997 and the corporate news was heavily weighted to the negative. In a nutshell, that's everything you need to know about how stocks fared on Wednesday.
For fans of detail, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell steadily throughout the session, ending down 1% to 8447.35, although off its earlier low of 8407.72. Similarly, the S&P 500 closed down 1.3% to 891.12 after having traded as low as 887.82. The Nasdaq Composite shed 2.2% to 1361.50 vs. its nadir of 1355.60. The Comp was relatively weak largely because of weakness in semiconductor stocks following a much-wider-than-expected loss from Micron Technology (MU Quote), which tumbled 22.5%. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index fell 7.1% to 297.80, breaking the psychologically significant 300 barrier. Stock proxies were further waylaid by lackluster results from FedEx (FDX Quote), which dipped 1.3%; warnings by Activision (ATVI Quote), down 19.3%, and Blockbuster (BBI Quote), which fell 32.3%; and Bank of New York (BK Quote), down 15.1%, announcing it will set aside $390 million to cover losses from aircraft lease contracts with UAL (UAL Quote). Even Halliburton (HAL Quote) shed 4.2% despite announcing a settlement its asbestos claims litigation. Elsewhere, Conseco (CNC Quote) submitted the third-largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.
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