Thursday, 30 July 2015 19:26
NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks fell early Thursday following mixed earnings and government data that showed the US economic rebound in the second quarter was slightly lower than expected.
About 35 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,671.29, down 80.10 points (0.45 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 10.12 (0.48 percent) to 2,098.45, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 32.20 (0.63 percent) to 5,079.53.
Dow member Procter & Gamble tumbled 3.8 percent after reporting a 79.8 percent drop in quarterly earnings to $ 521 million on lower sales and a hefty charge on operations in Venezuela.
Food company Mondelez International jumped 3.5 percent following better-than-expected earnings.
US gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the April-June period, the Commerce Department reported, slightly below the 2.5 percent consensus estimate.
However, Commerce revised up its estimate on the first quarter to growth of 0.6 percent from a 0.2 percent contraction.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said investor sentiment was also weighed down by a 2.2 percent decline in the Shanghai stock market and an unexpected rise in the number of unemployed in Germany.
Facebook fell 4.0 percent after reporting second-quarter net profit declined nine percent to $ 715 million despite a 39 percent surge in revenues to $ 4.04 billion due to a strong performance in mobile advertising. The results bested expectations. Facebook shares have been hovering near all-time highs.
Whole Foods Market sank 11.9 percent as it forecast earnings for the current quarter of 34-35 cents per share, three cents below analyst expectations. Executives said sales had been dented after it acknowledged overcharging customers in New York City stores.
Western Digital, which makes computer hard drives, surged 11 percent after earnings for the quarter ending July 3 came in at $ 220 million, down 30.5 percent from last year. The results were “not as bad as feared,” Deutsche Bank said.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dipped to 2.27 percent from 2.28 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year fell to 2.95 percent from 2.99 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
