Symbol	Name	Price		Change	%Change
NIKKEI	NIKKEI	16785.20		10.96	0.07%
HSI	HSI	23183.66		152.36	0.66%
ASX 200	S& P/ASX 200	5441.20		5.66	0.10%
SHANGHAI	Shanghai	3054.13		-7.21	-0.24%
KOSPI	KOSPI Index	2024.88		9.44	0.47%
CNBC 100	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	6842.08		11.26	0.16%

 

Symbol	Name	Price		Change	%Change
DJIA	Dow Industrials	18098.94		-45.26	-0.25%
S& P 500	S& P 500 Index	2132.55		-6.63	-0.31%
NASDAQ	NASDAQ Composite	5213.33		-25.69	-0.49%

 

Stocks slash earlier losses, close well off lows amid a rise in oil prices

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, but closed well off session lows, as investors digested weak data out of China and rising oil prices while assessing the possibility of a Federal Reserve rate hike.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 184.25 points at its lows before closing about 45 points lower, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most losses. The index briefly broke below the 18,000 mark and hit its lowest level since July.

" It felt, to me, like we got a little over-extended to the downside earlier today," said Daniel Deming, managing director at KKM Financial. " We broke through a key technical level on the S & P at 2,120" on an intraday basis .

The S & P 500 fell 0.3 percent, with financials falling 1.1 percent to lead decliners. Energy stocks, meanwhile pared most of their losses as U.S. crude settled 0.52 percent higher at $ 50.44 per barrel as a drawdown in gasoline inventories offset a build in oil stockpiles.

" Oil initially sold off after the EIA inventories report and quickly turned around. Once it star star going higher, stocks stopped going down," said Adam Sarhan, CEO at Sarhan Capital.

China exports tumbled 10 percent last month in dollar terms, while imports fell 1.9 percent. Asian equity markets closed mixed overnight, with mainland China' s composite composite flat and Honk Kong' s Hang Seng index falling 1.61 percent.

European stocks followed Hong Kong lower, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index dropping approximately 0.87 percent. US stock futures fell sharply, with Dow futures trading more than 100 points lower, while S & P and Nasdaq futures fell 14 and 32 points, respectively.

Gold futures for December delivery rose $ 3.80 to settle at $ 1,257.60 per ounce.

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