Substantial loss on Thursday, 7 August 2008

On Thursday, 7 August 2008, the NASDAQ stock market posted a substantial loss. The NASDAQ closed on 2355.73 registering an overall decrease of - 0.95%. This was mainly due to increase in crude oil prices and the unimpressive store sales results by the retailers. Some of the stocks listed in NASDAQ stock exchange were some of the major NASDAQ gainers such as wireless telecom, healthcare technology, real estate management and development, semiconductors. On the other hand, there were some weak sectors that were NASDAQ losers namely asset management and custody banks, airlines, supermarkets and supercentres, consumer finance, agricultural products, etc. The utilities (+ 0.6%) and tech (+ 0.6%) were some of the major sectors that climbed to a sessions high. Wal-Mart (WMT 58.18, -2.58) reported a 3.0% increase in store sales. Whereas, Target (TGT 46.19, -1.82) reported a 1.2% decrease in July store sales report. The crude oil prices rocketed to 1.1% to $ 119.87 per barrel.