US Markets Tumble; Asian Indices Rebound; World Markets Sharply Divided

The Dow Jones Industrial took a hit this week falling sharply after several major U.S. Retailers announced lower than expected second quarter earnings, sending skittish  investors into a selling spree and ending an impressive run.

 

After a two week tease that sent the DOW above 17,000, second quarter earnings reports from Amazon, Visa and Yahoo all lower than expected and interpreted as uncertainty in consumer spending drove the markets down, all week, ending at 16,960.57

Beginning the week, July 21, 2014, the DOW opened at 17,079.50 and promptly plummeted to a recent low, and continued the downward trend until the closing bell ended the bloodbath.

Tuesday, July 22, saw a better day with the DOW staying above 17,100. The brief respite was short lived and the remainder of the week left investors shaking their heads and holding their breath. The Friday close stopped the slide at 16, 960.57 a loss of -123.23 and -0.72%.

Winners for the week include Facebook Inc (0.28%) trading 49.92M shares and a closing price of $75.19 per share, Apple (0.65%) trading 43.47M shares and closing at $97.66 per share.  VeriSign Inc at $55.59 per share, (+5.76/11.56%), Microsoft Corp, (0.23%), trading 26.74M with a closing price of $44.50 per share, all closed up in moderate trading.

Losers for the week included Amazon at $324.01 per share at loss of (-34.60/-9.65%) and Yahoo at $36.12 per share (-0.14%).

The NASDAQ fared much better than the DOW mirroring the fall Monday and separating on Tuesday where it stayed strong throughout the remainder of the week closing at 4449.56. Unfortunately the rally was not enough as the NASDAQ closed down up (-22.54/-0.50%).

The S&P 500 ran alongside the NASDAQ, stumbling on Monday, with a strong rally throughout the remainder of week and closing at 1978.34 with a loss of (-9.64/-0.48%).

World Markets

The World Markets followed sharply the second quarter earnings report announcements with six of the ten major markets, including the DOW, London FTSE 100, France CAC 40, IPC Mexico, DAX Germany, BSE Sensex India, closing with a loss. The three major Asian Market Indices rallied and closed up.

Nikkei 225

The Japanese Nikkei rallied from its recent downward trends as it continued recovering from the Malaysian Airlines crash that sent the Asian markets into a tailspin. Rising steadily throughout the week, the Nikkei 225 closed at its highest levels seen recently at 15,457.87 posting a gain of 173.45/1.13%.

FTSE 100

London Markets mirrored the DOW falling throughout the week closing at 6791.55 with a net loss of -29.91/-0.44%.

Hang Seng Index

The Hong Kong Markets mirrored the Asian Markets with a strong showing and rallying from the crash of Malaysian Airlines MH 17 that sent the Hang Seng and Nikkei plummeting and finished the week at 24216.01 with a net gain of +74.51/+0.31%.

Haute Tease