Market Recap: Markets Not Fooled by Promised Benefits of ‘Obamacare’

[Apologies for the tardiness of this edition of the "Market Recap." This author just got back from interviewing Sen. Tom Coburn.]

Markets closed down today:

▼ Dow: -0.20 percent
▼ Nasdaq: -0.90 percent
▼ S&P: -0.21 percent

Precious metals:

▼ Gold: up -1.16 percent to $1,551.98 an ounce
▼ Silver: up -1.91 percent to settle at $26.29

Commodities:

▼ Oil: -2.23 percent

Markets closed down today because:

As mentioned earlier on The Blaze, news of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Obama’s signature healthcare law as constitutional pushed the markets way, way, way down. Spin-doctors may be able to fool voters on the benefits of the bill, but they can’t fool the markets.

However, when the stock market began tumbling Thursday, some of it was due to the same old concerns about Europe.

The market started to slip in early trading, before the high court’s announcement, as investors questioned whether a European Union meeting in Brussels would yield the same results as many meetings before it — vague pledges, rather than concrete plans for what to do with struggling countries like Greece and Spain.

U.S. stocks still closed low for the day, but they had a minor bounce-back in the last half-hour of trading. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down nearly 25 points, after falling as much as 177.

There were varying explanations for the late comeback, but most seemed to focus on Europe, including rumors that the European Central Bank would cut interest rates and that EU leaders might actually emerge from this week’s meetings with a plan. Late Thursday, a top EU official said leaders had agreed to devote $149 billion to “immediate growth measures.”

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down just before the Supreme Court ruled. Then it fell more steeply but recovered most of those losses, ending down 24.75 points at 12,602.26.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 2.81 points to end at 1,329.04 and the Nasdaq composite fell 25.83 points to 2,849.49.

There was disappointment to be found in almost all corners of the market. The Commerce Department said the American economy expanded at a 1.9 percent annual rate in the first quarter, a weak pace that isn’t expected to pick up.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.