Stock Market Mostly Lower As It Digests Twitter, Earnings, Economic News

The stock market fell modestly Thursday, as the social media industry was shaken with news that Elon Musk is trying to acquire the rest of Twitter (TWTR), and more key earnings reports came out.

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The Nasdaq composite was down 1% after its 2% rally Wednesday, which was the Nasdaq’s best day since March 18.

The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3%. The small-cap Russell 2000 was nearly unchanged.

Volume fell on the Nasdaq and rose on the NYSE compared with the same time on Wednesday.

The stock market will be closed tomorrow for the Good Friday holiday. Bond trading also is closed.

Twitter shares jumped nearly 4% after Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered to acquire Twitter in a deal valued at $43 billion, or $54.20 a share. Musk — who already owns a 9.2% stake in the social media company — called the bid his best and final offer.

Twitter stock traded around 47.60 shortly after the start of trading, indicating some skepticism about the deal.

Owl Rock Capital (ORCC) rose above the 15.24 buy point of a flat base in heavy trading. The investment management firm has a 92 Composite Rating.

Bank Earnings In Stock Market Spotlight

Major banks traded mixed after earnings reports this morning.

Goldman Sachs (GS) rose 1% after first-quarter earnings fell 42%, to $10.76 a share. Revenue slid 27% to $12.93 billion. Both numbers topped estimates.

Morgan Stanley (MS) rose nearly 3%. Q1 earnings and revenue also fell, although the bank still topped analysts’ expectations. The stock charts of both banks are trying to rebound after pronounced declines.

Wells Fargo (WFC) gapped down to a loss of 6% in heavy volume, sinking to the lowest point since Oct. 14. The bank’s earnings per share fell but came in above estimates.

Citigroup (C) rose nearly 2% as it tries to bounce off a 16-month low. First-quarter earnings fell on higher expenses and potential losses from its exposure to Russia.

The Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) was little changed.

Among the few noteworthy moves in the IBD 50, W.W. Grainger (GWW) slid 3.5% in heavy trading, falling below the 21-day exponential moving average. But so far there’s no sell signal for the stock, which topped a 527.16 buy point this week. Morgan Stanley downgraded the construction products retailer to underweight from equal weight.

Retail Sales, Jobless Claims Climb

Retail sales rose 0.5% in March from the previous month, basically in line with economists’ expectations. Excluding autos, sales increased 1.1%, also in line with views.

The prior two months sales were revised higher, to 0.8% in February and 5.1% in January. “Alas, raging consumer prices suggest retail volumes actually contracted in the month, and possibly in the past year,” BMO Capital Markets economist Sal Guatieri said in an analysis.

Bill Adams, Chief Economist for Comerica Bank, said the report shows “consumers spent more to keep their gas tanks full in March and pulled back on spending in other categories.” Discretionary categories of the report generally weakened from February.

The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) was nearly flat as it remained in a trading range around one-year lows.

The number of jobless claims rose last week to 175,000 from 167,000 the previous week. It was less than the 185,000 that economists polled by Econoday had forecast.

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