Tuesday brought another rough session for U.S. markets, with all three major indexes trading in the red as investors digested weak economic data and continued volatility across sectors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.52% to 48,164.83, while the NASDAQ declined 0.37% to 22,971.25. The S&P 500 fell 0.56% to 6,778.08, reflecting broad-based selling pressure across most sectors.
Sector Performance: Energy Gets Hammered
Not all sectors felt equal pain. Communication services shares managed to eke out a 0.2% gain on Tuesday, providing one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dreary trading session.
Energy stocks, however, got absolutely crushed—falling 2.3% as the sector bore the brunt of selling pressure amid tumbling crude oil prices.
Big Movers: Winners and Losers
SRx Health Solutions Inc (SRXH) absolutely exploded higher, rocketing 92% to $0.59 after announcing it signed an agreement to acquire EMJ Crypto Technologies. That's the kind of move that gets traders' attention.
Rezolve AI PLC (RZLV) also had a strong showing, surging 34% to $3.12 after releasing preliminary December revenue results that apparently impressed investors.
Cementos Pacasmayo SAA - ADR (CPAC) jumped 48% to $10.25 following news that Holcim signed an agreement to purchase 50.01% of the company's owner, Inversiones Aspi. S.A. of the Hochschild Group.
On the flip side, Zynex Inc (ZYXI) suffered a devastating 53% plunge to $0.31 after announcing it entered Chapter 11 court-supervised financial restructuring. Bankruptcy filings tend to have that effect.
Lightwave Logic Inc (LWLG) fell 19% to $3.05 after announcing the pricing of an 11.67 million share common stock offering, diluting existing shareholders.
Navan Inc (NAVN) dropped 17% to $12.21 following its third-quarter earnings report, which evidently didn't meet investor expectations.
Commodities: Oil Takes a Tumble
The commodity markets reflected the broader risk-off sentiment. Oil traded down 2.9% to $55.17, which explains much of the pain in energy stocks. Gold, meanwhile, caught a bid as investors sought safety, rising 0.5% to $4,357.00.
Silver edged up 0.1% to $63.59, while copper fell 1% to $5.3560.
Global Markets Follow Suit
European markets closed lower across the board. The eurozone's STOXX 600 slipped 0.64%, Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.69%, and London's FTSE 100 dropped 0.92%. Germany's DAX 40 declined 0.85% while France's CAC 40 fell 0.40%.
Asian markets also finished in the red. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.56%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 1.54%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 1.11%, and India's BSE Sensex fell 0.63%.
Economic Data Paints Mixed Picture
The economic calendar delivered several notable data points. The S&P Global flash composite PMI declined to 53 in December—the lowest reading in six months—down from 54.2 in November. That suggests economic activity is decelerating, though still expanding.
U.S. retail sales came in flat for October compared to September, down from a revised 0.1% gain the previous month and missing market estimates of 0.1% growth.
The labor market showed some resilience as the U.S. economy added 64,000 jobs in November, bouncing back from a 105,000 loss in October and slightly exceeding market estimates of 50,000.
However, the unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November from 4.3% the previous month, coming in above market estimates of 4.4% and marking the highest reading since September 2021.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose just 0.1% month-over-month to $36.86 in November, down from a 0.4% increase the previous month, suggesting wage growth is cooling.
U.S. business inventories increased 0.2% month-over-month in September, meeting market expectations.