Stocks slouched for a weak start Monday as the market geared for the third-quarter's final trading week.
Dow and Nasdaq fell 0.7% and the S&P 500 slid 0.6% at the open. The small-cap Russell 2000 also was donw 0.7%.
The stock market today opens the final week of September on mixed footing for the month. The Nasdaq gained 1.8% for the month through Friday, is above its 50-day moving average, and working on its third straight monthly gain. The S&P 500 is down 0.3%, tacking toward a second monthly decline, and struggling to hold support at its 50-day line.
Chemtura, G.W. Pharma Spikes; Smith & Wesson Slips
Dow stocks moved generally lower. Pfizer (PFE) opened with a loss of 1.5%. Pfizer said it won't split into two separate companies.
Specialty chemicals maker Chemtura (CHMT) vaulted 16% at the open, rising on news that Germany's Lanxess would pay $2.1 billion in cash to acquire the Philadelphia-based operation.
G.W. Pharmaceuticals (GWPH) leapt 13%. The maker of cannabinoid-based pain treatments announced positive results from a phase 3 trial of its Epidiolex treatment for seizures related to Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome.
Egg distributor Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) was down 3% after a broader-than-expected fiscal first-quarter loss. Shell egg prices are declining and pressuring results, the company noted, as industry production recovers from the Avian Influenza outbreak in the spring of 2015.
Smith & Wesson (SWHC) shed 4% at the open. The firearms' maker reported Friday it had lost out in the bidding competition to replace the Beretta M9 as the Army's standard sidearm for the U.S. Army. Smith & Wesson has been consolidating below its 50-day moving average, and back below a 29.85 buy point from a cup-with-handle base.
Among IBD 50 stocks, Nautilus (NLS) stumbled more than 3% in premarket trading and regular trading appeared to be delayed after a downgrade to neutral from B. Riley. Nautilus ended Friday's session 15% above a 21.49 buy point after clearing a cup base early in August.
Fed Speeches, OPEC Chatter, Overseas Markets Decline
Monday's economic calendar is light, with August new home sales due out from the Commerce Department at 10 a.m. ET., and the Dallas Federal Reserve's regional manufacturing survey expected at 10:30 a.m.
Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari speaks at 9:30 a.m. ET. Dallas Federal Reserve Bank's Robert Kaplan speaks at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Oil futures rose more than 1% as the International Energy Forum got underway in Algeria. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and top-producing non-members are holding an informal meeting on the sidelines of the event. West Texas Intermediate traded above $45 a barrel, Europe's Brent crude benchmark was at $46.65. Gold traded effectively flat around $1,341 an ounce. The dollar eased vs. the euro and the yen. Bonds rose, trimming the 10-year Treasury yield by 2 basis points to 1.60%.
Overseas, markets across Asia posted weak results Monday with the Shanghai Composite ending down 1.8% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index taking a 1.6% loss. In Japan, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 1.3%.
European markets were also under sharp pressure in afternoon trade, with the DAX in Frankfurt and Paris' CAC 40 down nearly 2% apiece, and London's FTSE 100 off 1.1%.
