Major indexes continued falling – about 15% this month – on concerns about rising interest rates, slowing U.S. growth and a continuing federal government shutdown. The markets closed early for Christmas Eve.
The S&P 500 fell 2.7% to 2,351.10.The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 2.9% to 21,792.20. The Nasdaq was down 2.2% to 6,192.92.
The yield on a 10-year Treasury bond was 1.4% lower to 2.75%.
The price of gold was 1.1% higher to $1,272.
The price of a barrel of crude oil fell 3.6% to $43.94.
HEALTHCARE
HCP Inc. (NYSE: HCP) in Irvine fell 5.2% to $26.80 and a $13 billion market cap. Shares of the healthcare REIT have declined 11% since a 52-week high on Dec. 6.
Urovant Sciences Ltd. (Nasdaq: UROV) jumped 21% to $5.21 and a $158 million market cap.
The reason for the increase wasn’t clear because the company hasn’t issued a press release or a filing in the past couple of days. The Irvine-based clinical stage biopharma company went public in late September at $14 a share.
