On Wednesday, the markets managed to close the day out with a minor gain, after having a terrible start in the morning. It all started with Chinese economic data in the morning that put pressure on the Dow Jones. The index was down as much as 60 points in the morning based off of this data. The market was able to eke out a minor gain in the face of several factors. For example, auto sales did not perform well as they should have. Most automakers reported a downturn in auto sales for the month of May. A possible June rate hike spooked the market as well, keeping a lid on stocks. What kept stocks from falling further was the oil market which rebounded after positive comments were made from OPEC. The Dow Jones closed up by 2.47 points to 17,789.67. The NASDAQ closed up 4.20 points to 4,952.25 and the S&P 500 closed up 2.37 points to 2,099.33.

Chinese Data Plummets Dow Jones

With June 1st being the first day of the month you would think that the Dow Jones and other indices would receive much needed optimism heading into the trading session. That could have happened, but Chinese Chinese Chinese Chinese Chinese Chinese showed that manufacturing expanded slightly in May. A private survey pointed to a different side of things, as it showed that factory data actually fell for the fifteenth straight month. China’s Purchasing Manager Index or PMI number was at 50.1. Any number above 50 indicates economic expansion, therefore it barely was above the key level. On the flip side, the Caichixn China PMI, which tracks production and activity at smaller companies was at 49.2. Thus, with the number being below 50 it indicated that this sector was seeing a contraction. With China being a large economy, many global markets track it as a gauge for global growth. As soon as investors picked up on the slower factory data in China, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen by 60 points in the morning. This data certainly led to a bad start for the month of June.