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Results for Monday, March 10
● Standard & Poor’s 500: -0.05 to 1,877.17
● Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.21 percent to 16,418.68
● NASDAQ: -0.04 percent to 4,334.45
Stocks spent the day in the red to begin a new week of trading on Wall Street, as investors found the slew of positive US economic data replaced by more troubling news out of China. While the previous week concluded with much better than expected jobs data, the present one began with the revelation that Chinese exports fell over 18 percent from the the previous February, a far cry from the 7.5 percent expansion that economists had expected. Losses were across the board, but hit commodities companies especially hard, as the Chinese economy takes a break in order to catch up with a decade or more of nearly exponential growth.
Our Top Stories
● Andrew Klips has the rundown on what investors can expect from economic data for the week of trading.
● Senior Editor Jacob Harper on green battery-maker Plug Power’s (PLUG) becoming the top-performing tech stock of 2014 so far, after shares gained another 25 percent in Monday’s session.
● Senior Editor Michael Teague on the rough day for copper and iron ore prices, as well as metals stocks, in the wake of China’s export data.
● Dennis Miller on how to get the most out of your IRA.
● McDonald’s (MCD) reported declining same-store sales for the month of February.
● Well-known commentator and Equities.com Elite contributor John Mauldin weighs in with a few critical observations regarding Keynesian economic theory.
● The National Bank of Greece (NBG) was showing signs of life in the day’s session, after the bank assured investors that it will not need to sell equity to cover its debts.
● Casey Research starts the week off with the robust claim that a bottom has finally been put it to the gold market.
Despite the modest selling activity during Monday’s session, tech stocks posted some strong results. Plug Power’s surge on the NASDAQ was accompanied by FuelCell Energy (FCEL) , up 11 percent, as well as Facebook (FB) up over 3 percent, followed by gains for Intel (INTC) , Micron Technology (MU) , and Himax Technologies (HIMX) .
Biotech and healthcare stocks also posted some impressive results, with gains nearing double-digits for Ohr Pharmaceutical Inc. (OHRP) , Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals (RARE) , Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (MACK) , among others.
While gold prices added another 0.17 percent by the closing bell, materials stocks were hit hard by news from China, with mining companies taking suffering the largest decreases. Cliff’s Natural Resources (CLF) , Peabody Energy (BTU) , and copper giant Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) were all off by at least 2.50 percent.