The stock market traded lower Thursday at midday, led by tech stocks. Elon Musk is trying to acquire the rest of Twitter (TWTR), and earnings on financial companies were mixed.
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The Nasdaq composite was down 1.3%. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%. The small-cap Russell 2000 was down 0.7%.
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.
U.S. Stock Market Today Overview |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | Symbol | Price | Gain/Loss | % Change |
| Dow Jones | (0DJIA) | 34613.25 | +48.66 | +0.14 |
| S&P 500 | (0S&P5) | 4422.24 | -24.35 | -0.55 |
| Nasdaq | (0NDQC ) | 13462.72 | -180.87 | -1.33 |
| Russell 2000 | (IWM) | 199.50 | -1.41 | -0.70 |
| IBD 50 | (FFTY) | 36.62 | -0.32 | -0.87 |
| Last Update: 12:06 PM ET 4/14/2022 | ||||
Meanwhile, Russia threatened to deploy new missiles near Europe if Sweden and Finland join NATO. The news heightened geopolitical turmoil and added another concern that the war in Ukraine could last longer and get more pronounced.
In response, steel stocks jumped Thursday. U.S. Steel (X) gained 3%. Nucor (NUE) and Steel Dynamics (STLD) both gained more than 1%.
Bank Earnings In Stock Market Spotlight
Major banks traded mixed after earnings reports this morning.
Goldman Sachs (GS) reversed lower 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 2% but pared gains. Q1 earnings and revenue also fell, although the bank still topped analysts’ expectations. Both stocks are trying to rebound.
Wells Fargo (WFC) gapped down to a loss of 2.4% in heavy volume. The bank’s earnings per share fell but came in above estimates. CEO Charles Scharf said efforts by the U.S. Federal Reserve to tame inflation “will certainly reduce economic growth,” and along with the impact of the war in Ukraine will add downside risk to the economy, according to MarketWatch.
Citigroup (C) rose more than 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. Citigroup beat analyst forecasts for earnings but missed revenue forecasts.
Musk Offers To Buy The Rest Of Twitter
Twitter shares jumped 1.3% 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 opened sharply higher but reversed lower to 45.50 at midday.
Other technology stocks also fell. The Technology Select SPDR ETF (XLK) was down 1.5%, making it the worst-performing S&P sector. Apple (AAPL), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) were all down more than 1%.
Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) dropped 0.4%.
Jobless Claims Climb
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.
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.
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.
Follow Michael Molinski on Twitter @IMmolinski
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