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Stocks Drop Ahead Of Presidential Debate; Smith & Wesson Plunges 7%

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Stocks closed near session lows Monday ahead of the presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET tonight.

The Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average each fell 0.9%. Volume was lower across the board, according to preliminary data.

Fiber optics, hotel operators and banks were among the biggest losers in the stock market today. Oil stocks were mostly higher, as West Texas intermediate crude futures rose nearly 3% to $45.66 a barrel.

Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan (JPM), the top decliners among blue chips, lost more than 2% each.

Among other Dow components, Disney (DIS) fell 1.4% in above-average volume. The entertainment and theme park giant is mulling a bid for Twitter (TWTR), Bloomberg reported. Disney could join other potential acquirers including Alphabet (GOOGL) and Salesforce.com (CRM). Twitter shares reversed intraday losses to close 3% higher.

Smith & Wesson (SWHC) gapped down and fell 7% to a near three-month low in heavy trade. Shares are now more than 14% below a 29.85 buy point and are heading toward the 200-day moving average. The gun maker's proposal to replace the Beretta M9 standard sidearm was not selected by the Army to move on to "the next phase of the competition," Smith & Wesson said in a Friday SEC filing.

On the IBD 50, Acacia Communications (ACIA) led the downside with a 10% plunge in fast turnover after announcing a $450 million share offering -- its first since going public in May at 23 a share.

Also in the IBD 50, Nautilus (NLS) and Planet Fitness (PLNT) shed 6% and 4%, respectively.

But Abiomed (ABMD) gained 2.6% to close near its highs.

In economic news, August new-home sales fell 8% to 609,000 annualized, but above forecasts for 598,000.

Economic data on tap for Tuesday include the S&P Case-Shiller home price index for July and the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for September.

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