STOCKS DIP: Here's what you need to know
AP/Carolyn Kaster
Stocks tumbled on Thursday ahead of president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
All three major indices finished in the red.
First up, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 19,732.40, -72.32, (-0.37%)
- S&P 500: 2,263.69, -8.20, (-0.36%)
- Nasdaq: 5,540.08, -15.57, (-0.28%)
- US 10-year yield: 2.470%, +0.083
- WTI Crude: $51.40 per barrel, +0.32, +0.63%
1. Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin said the US may need a "21st century version" of Glass-Steagall. He also said he supported the Volcker Rule, which was enacted with the Dodd-Frank Act after the 2008 financial crisis and limited how much speculative investing banks can do.
2. Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill grilled Mnuchin over Trump's debts to foreign countries. "The American people want to know how much debt is owed by the Trump businesses to foreign entities because that could have a direct impact on our national security," said McCaskill.
3. Two Senators said they'll push for an investigation into whether Trump adviser Scaramucci violated Russia sanctions. In his confirmation hearing, Mnuchin said he would "properly investigate" any letter sent to his office regarding the sanctions. The Senators appeared to be referring to a discussion, reported by Bloomberg News, between Scaramucci and the head of a Russian sovereign wealth fund that the US government sanctioned in 2015.
4. Mnuchin also addressed the president-elect's conflicts of interests. "I would deal with President Trump's business no different than I would deal with any business that comes before the committee and I would take my role as chair of that committee very, very significantly," said Mnuchin.
5. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing outlook index came in at 23.6, significantly above expectations of 15.8. "Forty percent of the firms reported increases in activity this month; 17 percent reported decreases," said the release from the Philly Fed. "...the activity index reading was the highest since November 2014."
6. Housing starts jumped more than expected in December. Housing starts rose by 11.3% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.226 million, according to the Commerce Department. Building permits fell 0.2% at a rate of 1.21 million.
7. Initial claims unexpectedly tumbled to 234,000. Moreover, the 4-week moving average was 246,750, a decrease of 10,250 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for the average since November 3, 1973, when it was 244,000.
8. Netflix is set to burn through $2 billion in 2017, and it's the biggest thing that worries Wall Street. The reason, according to Netflix, is that actually making shows yourself costs a lot of money up front.
ADDITIONALLY:
What Wall Street is saying about Netflix's blowout subscriber growth last quarter.
OBAMA: This was the scariest night of my presidency.
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