Stock Market News For Jul 18, 2019

Wall Street closed sharply lower on Wednesday on renewed trade tensions. Moreover, mixed second quarter earnings results also dented investors’ confidence. All three major stock indexes finished in negative territory.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) declined 0.4% or 115.78 points to close at 27.219.85. The S&P 500 tumbled 0.7% to close at 2,984.42. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 8,185.21, shedding 0.5%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) increased 8.6% to close at 13.97. A total of 6.1 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 6.66 billion. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.67-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.73-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow closed in negative territory for the second straight day with 24 components of the 30-stock blue-chip index closing in the red while six finished in the green. The S&P 500 also closed in negative territory for second consecutive day. The Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) and Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE (NYSE:XLE)) lost 2.1% and 1.1%, respectively. Notably, nine out of 11 sectors of the benchmark index closed in the red while two ended in the green. The Nasdaq Composite declined for the second successive day due to weak performance from large-cap stocks.

Trade Talk Stall

On Jul 17, The Wall Street Journal reported that no progress has been made on the trade front between the United States and China since the two Presidents, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met last at the G-20 summit on May 30 in Japan.

The U.S. government is currently yet to determine its response against China’s demand to ease restrictions against Huawei Technologies. No face-to-face meeting between high level delegates of the two countries has been scheduled so far. Meanwhile, On Jul 16, President Trump said that a trade deal between the United States and China is a long way off, In addition, he also cast doubts about whether a deal will at all be possible or not.

Second Quarter Earnings Remain Mixed

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) reported strong earnings results in the second-quarter 2019. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.74, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.70. Revenues of $23.8 billion outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $22.97 billion. Consequently, shares of Bank of America gained 0.7%. (Read More)

United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL) reported impressive earnings results in the second-quarter 2019. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $4.21, outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.07. Revenues of $11.4 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $11.3 billion. Consequently, shares of United Airlines Holdings gained 0.9%. (Read More)

CSX Corp. (NASDAQ:CSX) reported disappointing earnings results in the second-quarter 2019. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.08, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.11. Revenues of $3,061 million lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,142.7 million. Consequently, shares of CSX plunged 10.3%. (Read More)

United Airlines Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Economic Data

The Department of Commerce reported that housing starts declined 0.9% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.253 million units, lower than the consensus estimate of 1.258 million units. This was the second consecutive month of declines for housing starts. Meanwhile, building permits plummeted 6.1% in June to a rate of 1.220 million units, its lowest since May 2017. The consensus estimate was 1.293 million units.

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