Downbeat outlook for tech hits Wall St
US stocks sagged in volatile trading yesterday after weak outlooks from technology companies and downbeat comments from a Federal Reserve official gave investors little reason to buy.
The market has struggled to make headway this week. The S&P 500 fell for a third straight day.
Friday’s Commerce Department report on second-quarter gross domestic product will be another marker for the strength of the recovery.
The PHLX Semiconductor Index bounced off a session low near its 200-day moving average, watched by investors to determine market movement. The index was still down 1.9 per cent but was up six per cent for July.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 30.72 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 10,467.16.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 4.59 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 1,101.54. The
Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 12.87 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 2,251.69.
Friday’s GDP number is widely expected to show US economic growth slowed in the second quarter as some investors fret about the possibility of a double-dip recession.
Nvidia fell 9.9 percent to $9.13, and Symantec dropped 11.2 percent to $13.03.
Exxon Mobil, the S&P’s largest company by market capitalization, fell 0.9 percent to $60.34 after reporting a better-than-expected quarterly profit.
Consumer staples also fell, with the S&P consumer staple index down 1.1 per cent after Kellogg lowered its outlook and Colgate-Palmolive posted weaker-than-expected sales.
Through yesterday morning, 60 per cent of companies in the S&P 500 have reported quarterly earnings, with 75 per cent of companies beating expectations and 35.1 per cent year-over-year earnings growth.
About 8.45 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, short of last year’s estimated daily average of 9.65 billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of about 9 to 8, while on the Nasdaq, about nine stocks fell for every eight that rose.