J.D. Joyce, president of Houston-based Joyce Wealth Management, noted that traders are currently looking past corporate balance sheets to focus primarily on macroeconomic risk. The caution comes as the U.S. dollar strengthens against international rivals, buoyed in part by volatility in emerging markets. Following the surprise election victory of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian real plummeted, losing over 10% of its value against the greenback.

Specific sectoral shifts also pressured individual equities. Shares of Fair Isaac took a sharp dive after the company maintained its $10 pricing for mortgage lenders utilizing its FICO score. This fee structure remains under intense scrutiny as it sits more than 10 times higher than the cost of the competing VantageScore 4.0 product.