US close: Technology woes drag markets down again
Wall Street trading finished as red as it started on Tuesday, with technology plays in focus again following a dismal session the day before.
Dow Jones I.A.
38,085.80
04:30 15/10/20
Nasdaq 100
17,430.50
12:15 25/04/24
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session down 2.21% at 24,465.64, the S&P 500 was off 1.82% at 2,641.89, and the Nasdaq 100 was 1.75% lower at 6,526.96.
At the open, the Dow lost almost 600 points, adding to the prior session's drop of almost 400 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished 219 points lower on Monday as shares in tech giants Apple, Amazon and Facebook continued to skid lower.
Apple was rocked by reports that it has slashed production orders in recent weeks for all three iPhone models that were unveiled in September.
"Investors had been nervous about the outlook for Apple and it's flagship devices since the firm announced that it would no longer be reporting a breakdown of sales figures by product in its most recent earnings update,” said London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler.
“News of slashed production orders has just confirmed those fears, forcing investors to reassess Apple’s outlook,”
Meanwhile, Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said that with the so-called ‘FAANG’ (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet (Google) stocks now all in bear market territory and not yet coming to the rescue of the rest of the market, investors had been left wondering if it was going to “get messy”, or whether the Black Friday sales had come early to the stock markets.
“There still appears to be a lot of underlying anxiety in the markets which may prolong the current sell-off a little longer, with trade wars, US interest rates, Brexit and the Italian budget standoff all being significant headwinds,” Erlam quipped.
Overnight, analysts at Goldman Sachs cut their target for shares of Apple from $209 to $182.
Also weighing on sentiment was news that the Trump administration was considering tightening controls on high-technology exports, including those related to artificial intelligence and other so-called 'dual-use' technologies, as part of its ongoing trade war with China.
On the data front, a key indicator of activity in the US housing sector picked-up more quickly than expected last month, although the details of the report were a bit weak.
According to the Department of Commerce, the annualised pace of growth in housing starts increased at a month-on-month pace of 1.5% in October to reach 1.228m.
That was a tad shy of economists' median forecast for 1.3m, but an upwards revision to the prior month's reading, from 1.201m to 1.210m, more than offset that shortfall.
However, starts for single-family homes, the most closely followed piece of data in the report, weakened by 1.8% on the month to reach an annualised pace of 865,000, even as multi-family starts jumped by 6.2% to 343,000.
Housing permits, or authorisations to begin construction work, on the other hand, slipped by 0.6% versus September to reach an annualised clip of 1.263m.
In corporate news, consumer electronics retailer Best Buy ticked ahead 2.15% following better-than-expected third-quarter results, while Lowe's dropped 5.66% after the retailer's quarterly earnings and revenue beat forecasts but it cut its full-year estimates.
Hormel Foods was down 0.88% after its fourth-quarter earnings beat expectations but sales missed, while discount department store Target was off 10.52% in early trade after a mixed third-quarter update.
Apple's woes continued with its stock trading down by 4.78% at the closing bell.
Dow Jones - Risers
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $146.43 -0.87%
Boeing Co. (BA) $317.82 -1.01%
Visa Inc. (V) $133.37 -1.03%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $47.39 -1.27%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $92.10 -1.28%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $125.99 -1.45%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $43.53 -1.50%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $183.71 -1.61%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $128.37 -1.65%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $261.50 -1.71%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $176.98 -4.78%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $191.34 -3.45%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $111.87 -3.08%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $122.27 -2.94%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $76.93 -2.84%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $101.71 -2.78%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $116.10 -2.78%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $44.49 -2.75%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $94.14 -2.71%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $169.05 -2.62%
S&P 500 - Risers
Agilent Technologies Inc. (A) $67.50 7.84%
Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) $40.55 5.46%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $89.02 4.09%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $35.77 3.92%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $149.08 3.03%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $36.58 2.72%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $96.84 2.35%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $94.48 2.33%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $63.53 2.14%
Medtronic Plc (MDT) $92.16 1.98%
S&P 500 - Fallers
L Brands Inc (LB) $28.43 -17.67%
Target Corp. (TGT) $69.03 -11.27%
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) $65.04 -10.80%
Navient Corporation (NAVI) $10.73 -10.58%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $82.64 -9.38%
Mallinckrodt Plc Ordinary Shares (MNK) $28.00 -9.15%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $64.45 -8.96%
Newfield Exploration Co (NFX) $17.68 -8.68%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $3.20 -8.31%
Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $8.97 -8.00%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $89.02 4.09%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $35.77 3.92%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $149.08 3.03%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $210.10 2.77%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $96.84 2.35%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $94.48 2.33%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $126.81 2.21%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $116.82 1.53%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $45.68 1.26%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $196.44 0.78%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $82.64 -9.38%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $19.49 -7.67%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $21.16 -6.91%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $313.79 -6.44%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $305.01 -5.74%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $336.07 -5.13%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $176.98 -4.78%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $30.03 -4.67%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $22.62 -4.44%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $219.31 -4.12%