Stocks tumble on weak results at Amazon, Alphabet
- by Claude Bryan
- in Markets
- — Oct 28, 2018
Trader Michael Capolino works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, on today. Five of the six most valuable USA companies recently suffered a correction: Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway and Facebook are all down sharply from their recent highs, although some of those declines began this summer.
The latest round of upbeat results came from a wide range of companies, including Ford Motor Co, Visa Inc, Whirlpool Corp and Twitter Inc, and offered relief after the earnings season began on a tepid note and then geared lower on sluggish outlooks from manufacturers and chipmakers.
Stocks are off to a mixed start on Wall Street as gains for Boeing and other industrial companies are offset by losses elsewhere in the market. The company reported by far its most profitable quarter in history late Wednesday, lessening concerns of a looming cash crunch that had been weighing on shares.
Encouraging economic news helped stabilize markets. The Commerce Department said orders to United States factories for major manufactured goods grew in September, and the increase was larger than analysts expected. A correction is defined as a drop of more than 10% from a recent high.
High-flying companies like Netflix and Amazon took some of the biggest losses Wednesday.
Shares fell moderately in Asia on Thursday after another torrent of selling on Wall Street sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting more than 600 points, erasing its gains for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 394 points, or 1.6 percent, to 24,978.
The Nasdaq composite added 209 points, or 3 percent, to 7,318.
The S&P 500 had index plunged 9.2 per cent since October 3 as investors anxious about climbing interest rates and the effects of the US-China trade dispute. That's higher than what many economists had been projecting and followed an even stronger 4.2 percent rate of growth in the second quarter.
Interest rates are also climbing higher.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index swooned 3.7 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended 1 percent lower.
Microsoft jumped 5.8 percent after it beat consensus estimates for revenue and profit.
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Twitter soared 15.7 percent to $31.87 and electric vehicle maker Tesla jumped 8.7 percent to $313.62 after releasing their quarterly reports, while video game maker Take-Two vaulted 9.1 percent to $121.05 after strong reviews for its latest game, "Red Dead Redemption 2". The index plunged 9 percent since early this month as investors anxious about climbing interest rates and the effects of the U.S-China trade dispute. The Dow sank 1.7 percent and the S&P 2.3 percent, with the S&P's session low taking it more than 10 percent below its September 20 all-time closing high.
Amazon's revenue fell short of expectations and its fourth-quarter guidance disappointed, sending shares into a bear market, down more than 20% from their peak. She expects that to change when the dust settles.
In the US, Friday's steep declines were triggered by disappointing quarterly results from tech giants Amazon and Google-owner Alphabet.
Nasdaq futures fell 0.8 percent and S&P futures lost 0.5 percent, suggesting the US stock market may see more selling when it opens on Friday. But huge companies like Microsoft have slumped this month.
"The correction was initially driven by interest rates and tariffs, so people were looking forward to earnings season to get us out of the downward trend we're in".
While the US economy continues to grow, despite trade wars, the same can not be said of USA corporate profit growth, with a slew of disappointing forecasts this earnings season showing how tariffs, rising wages and borrowing costs, as well as jitters over geopolitical events are hitting companies. Its 4.4 per cent tumble on Wednesday to 7,108.40 was its biggest drop since August 2011 but it is still up 3 per cent for the year.
The Dow is down 135.80 points, or 0.5 percent.
Intel Corp jumped 3.5 percent in extended trade after posting one of Thursday's few upbeat quarterly reports.
McDonald's rose 6.1 percent after it beat estimates for quarterly same-store sales on strong demand in worldwide markets, while Verizon rallied to an 18-1/2-year high after beating estimates for profit and net new phone subscribers.
The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 88 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 15 new highs and 323 new lows.