Stock Market News For Apr 24, 2018

Markets ended mixed on Monday, as tech stocks continued to suffer and rising bond yields dented investors’ confidence. However, optimism about earnings prevented markets from declining further. Reports of softer iPhone sales in the June quarter, which have been doing the rounds since last weekend, once again took its toll on tech stocks. Moreover, rising US Treasury bond yields fuelled fears that the Fed will increase it pace of interest rate hikes, which saw stocks declining.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) declined less than 0.1%, to close at 24,448.69. The S&P 500 ended the day almost flat with a negligible rise of 0.1% to close at 2,670.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 7128.60, shedding 0.3%. A total of 5.76 billion shares were traded on Friday, lower than the last 20-session average of 6.80 billion shares. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.16-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.29-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.

How did the Benchmark Perform?

The Dow shed 14.25 points, making it the fourth straight day of losses since March, led by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) , which declined 2.1%. The S&P 500 which gained a negligible 0.15 points with technology stocks taking a major hit. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) declined 0.4% overshadowing the gain of telecommunication stocks. Six out of the 11 major S7P sectors ended in positive territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 17.52 points, registering its third consecutive day of loss. Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) , Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) declined 0.3% each, while Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) plummeted 0.6%. Amazon sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Tech Stocks Suffer Again

Despite high optimism surrounding earnings, markets ended mixed on Tuesday, primarily due to the sharp decline in tech stocks. Tech stocks have been suffering for quite some time now leading to huge selloffs post Facebook’s data misuse scandal in early March. However, fears further escalated after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) on Friday predicted that iPhone sales would soften in the June quarter. The fears persisted through Tuesday, taking further toll on tech stocks.

Google’s parent Alphabet was marginally up for while after the company announced its quarterly results. Alphabet, which reported a 73% rise in profits in the first quarter, momentarily saw its shares rising. However, it ended the day in red as investors panicked.

10-Year Treasury Note Touches 4-Year High, Earnings Balance the Losses

Concerns surrounding expectations of rising inflation and increasing supply of government debt saw stocks taking a hit once again on Monday, as the 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest level since 2014. The 10-year Treasury yield touched 2.99%, slightly below the psychological level of 3 %. This saw huge selloffs in Treasurys, pushing yields higher

However, optimism around a robust earnings season helped markets balance the losses to some extent. The earnings season is in full swing with 18% of the S&P 500 companies having already reported earnings through Monday. Looking at Q1 as a whole, total earnings are expected to be up 17.8% from the same period last year on 7.6% higher revenues, the highest quarterly earnings growth pace in 7 years. Moreover, more than 170 companies are expected to come up with their quarterly numbers this week.

Stocks That Made Headlines

Whirlpool Q1 Earnings & Sales Miss, GAAP View Trimmed

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) reported dismal first-quarter 2018 results as both earnings and sales missed estimates. (Read More)

Canadian National Q1 Earnings Lag, '18 View Trimmed

Canadian National Railway Company’s (NYSE:CNI) first-quarter 2018 earnings lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate. (Read More)

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