Indexes Try To Claw Back From Bloody Monday; Plus HD, TSN & More

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

After a blood-red Monday in the U.S. market indexes — including more than 2% sell-offs on both the Dow and Nasdaq, including a 600-point drop in the Big 30 — we see some green across the board in today’s pre-market, albeit relatively slight. A negative supply outlook for Apple (NYSE:AAP) yesterday, along with a deceleration in iPhone unit shipments expected, helped the indexes to their leg down, falling by roughly $5 per share. Apple is down another 1%+ in today’s early session.

Additional market concerns — from still-lower oil prices amid a new growing supply glut, potential auto import tariffs of a whopping 25%, and election results in Florida which remain unresolved nearly a week since polling places closed — also tore through market expectations, as November struggles to fight back from the big losses we saw in October — the lowest trading month of calendar 2018. The Dow still trades up for the year, around 550 points overall.

Reports of trade negotiations back on between the U.S. and China this morning, from both the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and the South China Morning Post, indicate that some of the tensions are easing between the top two economies in the world. The WSJ reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had a pleasant phone call with Chinese Vice Premier Lu, and the Chinese publication’s statement that relations “atmosphere is much better now” between the two countries. Real results, however, are not expected until after the G-20 summit late this month, when President Trump meets world leaders including China’s Xi Jinping.

Elsewhere, Home Depot (NYSE:HD) clobbered estimates on its Q3 bottom line, reporting $2.51 per share versus the Zacks consensus of $2.27 and the year-ago quarter’s $1.84 per share. Revenues of $26.39 billion in the quarter also outperformed the $26.24 billion analysts had expected, as well as the $25.0 billion in the year-ago quarter. Yet guidance looks a tad weak considering these new strong figures, and HD shares, while still in the green since the earnings release, have seen its gains dwindle to around 1.2% at this hour. For more on HD’s earnings, click here.

Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) also easily beat earnings estimates, posting $1.58 per share compared to the $1.33 expected and the $1.43 in the year-ago fiscal Q4. However, revenues came in 1.5% light to $10 billion in the quarter, and beneath the $10.15 billion reported in fiscal Q4 2017. This marks the third revenue miss for the poultry producing major, and shares are down 4.3% at this point in the pre-market. For more on TSN’s earnings, click here.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) was another earnings topper this morning, reporting $1.89 per share versus the $1.77 expected and $1.43 a year ago. Revenues also beat expectations to $2.3 billion from $2.2 billion in the Zacks consensus, up 4.6% year over year. Shares are doing very well this morning, up 5.6% in today’s early trading. For more on AAP’s earnings, click here.

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

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