You normally don't think much about railroads, but they move goods from Point A to Point B.
Late Tuesday, CSX (NASDAQ:CS), which operates in the East and South, loudly noted that economic uncertainty, caused in part by the trade disputes between the United States and China, aren't good for the railroad's business.
CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) Shares slumped more than 10% on Wednesday; other railroad shares fell too. Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) fell 7.5%; Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) slumped by 6.5% That pulled the Dow Jones Transportation average 3.6% lower -- and the entire market.
The S&P 500 fell 0.65%. The Dow fell 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.46%. The NASDAQ 100 was off 0.48%, with CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) by far its biggest loser.
The CSX losses were felt by FedEx (NYSE:FDX), United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) and shipping company Landstar System (NASDAQ:LSTR). Truck manufacturer PACCAR (NASDAQ:PCAR) also fell on CSX CEO JIm Foote's comment in Tuesday's conference call that a big expansion of the national trucking fleet has pressure freight rates for truckers and railroads.
Stocks weren't the only casualties on Wednesday. Oil prices fell again. WTIWest Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.5% to $56.78 a barrel. Gold futures, however, moved $12.10 higher to $1,423.30 an ounce after the International Monetary Fund said the U.S. dollar was overvalued. The US Dollar Index Futures fell 0.2%.
Industrials, energy, chemicals and real estate stocks were lower. Techs, healthcare and utilities moved higher.
Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) and Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) and Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) were among the casualties of lower oil prices. Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN), Macy’s (NYSE:M)and Kohls (NYSE:KSS) all fell.
NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) were among the stronger tech stocks.
But the biggest tech stocks, including Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Cisco Systems Inc.(NASDAQ:CSCO) were all lower.
Microsoft reports fiscal-fourth-quarter results after Thursday's close.
Interest rates moved lower, as investors continue to see the Federal Reserve cutting its key federal funds rate by a quarter-point at its July 30-31 meeting. The U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield fell to 2.059% from 2.12% on Tuesday.
S&P 500 Winners and Losers
Corporate-uniform maker Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS), candy-maker Hershey (NYSE:HSY) and pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) were among the top S&P 500 performers
CSX (NASDAQ:CSX), defense contractor Textron (NYSE:TXT) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) were among the worst S&P 500 performers.
