Customized watchlists with full streaming quotes from leading exchanges, such as NASDAQ, NYSE, AMEX, OTC Markets Small-Cap, LSE and more.
U.S. Stocks May See Further Downside In Early Trading
US Market
The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a modestly lower open on Thursday, with stocks likely to see further downside following the sell-off seen in the previous session.
After ending Tuesday’s choppy trading session modestly lower, stocks showed a more substantial move to the downside during trading on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly steep drop on the day, tumbling to its lowest closing level in over a month.
The major averages saw further downside late in the session, closing near their worst levels of the day. The Nasdaq plunged 654.94 points or 3.6 percent to 17,342.41, the S&P 500 dove 128.61 points or 2.3 percent to 5,427.13 and the Dow slumped 504.22 points or 1.3 percent to 39,853.87.
The sell-off on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to corporate earnings news from companies like Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
Shares of Tesla plummeted by 12.3 percent after the electric vehicle maker reported weaker than expected second quarter earnings.
Google parent Alphabet also plunged 5.0 percent after reporting second quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates but missing expectations for YouTube advertising revenue.
Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) also tumbled by 5.6 percent after the Facebook parent announced a free version of its Llama artificial intelligence model.
On the other hand, telecom giant AT&T (NYSE:T) jumped by 5.2 percent after reporting second quarter earnings in line with estimates and stronger than expected phone subscriber growth.
In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report unexpectedly showing a continued decrease by new home sales in the U.S. in the month of June.
The report said new home sales fell by 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 617,000 in June after plummeting by 14.9 percent to a revised rate of 621,000 in May.
Economists had expected new home sales to surge by 3.4 percent to a rate of 640,000 from the 619,000 originally reported for the previous month.
With the unexpected decline, new home sales slumped to their lowest level since hitting an annual rate of 611,000 in November 2023.
Semiconductor stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunging by 5.4 percent to its lowest closing level in two months.
Software, networking and computer hardware stocks also saw significant weakness, contributing to the steep drop by the Nasdaq.
Considerable weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
Housing, oil service and retail stocks also showed notable moves to the downside, while utility stocks bucked the downtrend, driving the Dow Jones Utility Average up by 1.7 percent.
Europe
European stocks fell sharply on Thursday after U.S. stock markets suffered their worst losses since 2022 overnight, led by declines in major tech shares.
Concerns over Chinese demand and weak German business sentiment data also weighed on markets.
The Ifo institute’s business climate index sank to 87.0 in July from 88.6 in June amid increasing pessimism about the performance of Europe’s largest economy.
The pan European STOXX 600 tumbled 1.4 percent to 505.31 after falling 0.6 percent on Wednesday.
The German DAX dipped 1.2 percent, France’s CAC 40 shed 1.6 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 1 percent.
Nestle tumbled 4.2 percent. The Swiss food and drink company downgraded its sales outlook for the year after sales fell 3 percent during the first half of fiscal 2024.
Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics lost nearly 12 percent after cutting its full-year outlook for the second time this year.
British drug maker Indivior soared 16 percent after a promising half-year report.
Gold miner Centamin slumped 6.2 percent after reporting weak net earnings in its first half.
Centrica plummeted 7.2 percent. The integrated energy company announced that Scott Wheway would step down as Chair of the Company and would not seek re-election as a director.
British American Tobacco climbed 3 percent after delivering its first-half performance for 2024 in line with its expectations.
Telecoms giant BT Group fell 2.4 percent on reporting a decline in Q1 revenue.
Consumer goods giant Unilever surged 5.6 percent after beating first-half expectations.
Lender Lloyds Banking dropped 1.4 percent as it reported a 14 percent fall in first half pretax profit.
Gucci-owner Kering plunged 6.7 percent in Paris after issuing another profit warning.
Renault plummeted 8.3 percent after partner Nissan Motor Co. and French peer Stellantis NV reported disappointing results.
Retailer Carrefour lost 5.4 percent after upholding its end-year profit and cashflow targets.
Airline Air France-KLM jumped almost 4 percent despite posting Q2 results below expectations.
Ipsen slumped 5.7 percent despite delivering strong results in the first half of the year.
German semiconductor parts maker Aixtron AG fell 2.8 percent after revising down the annual revenue outlook for the third quarter.
Agriculture group BayWa rallied 13 percent on reports that Swiss energy investor Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP) is seeking to increase its stake in the company’s renewable energy unit.
Vossloh, an international technology group focused on rail products including switches, signals and crossings, rose 3 percent after reporting a rise in first-half net income.
Wind turbine maker Nordex added 1.7 percent after narrowing its half-year net loss and lifting its FY24 EBITDA margin view.
Asia
Asian stocks plunged on Thursday as a disappointing start of the mega-cap U.S. earnings season prompted investors to pull back on the artificial-intelligence frenzy.
A surprise rate cut in China also offered a reality check regarding the challenges facing the world’s second-largest economy.
The U.S. dollar plummeted against the yen ahead of a Bank of Japan policy meeting next week where a rate hike may be on the table.
Gold fell more than 1 percent on profit taking as investors awaited U.S. GDP and PCE price index data that could offer more cues on when the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year and by how much.
Oil prices also declined on concerns over weak demand in China, the world’s largest crude importer.
China’s Shanghai Composite index dipped 0.52 percent to 2,886.74 as economic concerns mounted and surprise interest rate cuts did little to improve sentiment.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tumbled 1.77 percent to 17,004.97 as Chinese internet giants tracked losses in their U.S. peers.
Japanese markets led regional losses as tech stocks lost ground and the yen rose to its strongest level against the dollar in 2-1/2 months on BOJ rate hike bets.
The Nikkei average tumbled 3.28 percent to 37,869.51, hitting a three-month low and posting its biggest daily decline in three years. The broader Topix index settled 2.98 percent lower at 2,709.86.
Technology investor SoftBank Group plunged 9.4 percent while chip-related stocks such as Advantest and Tokyo Electron gave up 5-6 percent.
Renesas Electronics nosedived 13.6 percent after reporting a 29 percent decline in half-year profit. Nissan Motor plunged 7 percent after a profit warning.
Seoul stocks lost ground due to selling in the tech sector and concerns over economic recovery after data showed South Korea’s economy contracted in the second quarter.
The Kospi average fell 1.74 percent to 2,710.65. Memory chip making giant and Nvidia supplier SK Hynix plummeted 8.9 percent despite posting its highest quarterly profit in six years on robust artificial intelligence demand.
Australian markets fell sharply to hit a two-week low, dragged down by tech stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.29 percent to 7,861.20 while the broader All Ordinaries index finished down 1.36 percent at 8,094.30.
Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index fell 1.08 percent to 12,396.27.
Commodities
Crude oil futures are slumping $1.10 to $76.49 a barrel after climbing $0.63 to $77.59 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after rising $8.40 to $2,415.70 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are plunging $49.30 to $2,366.40 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 153.21 yen versus the 153.89 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0841 compared to yesterday’s $1.0840.
