U.S. stocks turned broadly lower in midday trading Thursday as investors became more cautious following a record-setting day for major indexes.
The coronavirus outbreak that originated in China remains a lingering concern as more companies say they'll be affected. The world’s biggest shipper, A.P. Moller Maersk, expects a profit hit in 2020. Air France also expects earnings to suffer and Australia’s Qantas is slashing flights to Asia.
Technology and health care companies led the losses. Microsoft slipped 2.3% and UnitedHealth Group fell 1.8%.
Bond prices rose sharply as investors sought safety, sending yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 1.51% from 1.57%.
Energy companies held up better than most of the market as crude oil prices rose 1%. Real estate companies also held up well.
E-Trade soared after agreeing to be acquired by Morgan Stanley.
KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index fell 0.9% as of 11:41 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 304 points, or 1%, to 29,051. Nasdaq fell 1.3%. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks fell 0.6%.
OVERSEAS: Markets in Asia were mixed. The Shanghai benchmark jumped1.8% after China’s central bank cut interest rates to help ease credit for companies hurt by the virus outbreak. European markets mostly fell.
RICH CRUST: Domino's Pizza jumped 23.5% after the company delivered better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and surprisingly good sales. The company handily beat a key sales measure as it faces increasing competition from food delivery companies like DoorDash.
BIG DEAL: E-Trade surged 24.7% after Morgan Stanley said it will buy the online brokerage firm for $13 billion, one of the biggest deals on Wall Street since the financial crisis. Morgan Stanley fell 3.3%. The deal comes less than a year after a vicious fight for customers resulted in discount brokers like E-Trade slashing or eliminating fees. Rival Charles Schwab is in the process of buying TD Ameritrade.
EARNINGS: Investors continued digesting a steady flow of corporate earnings. Zillow Group jumped 19.9% and Avis Budget Group also soared 19.2%after reporting solid financial results. Online postage provider Stamps.com surged 56.5% after blowing away analysts’ forecasts. ViacomCBS plunged 16.9% and Boston Beer slid 6.6% after reporting disappointing results.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
