Stock Market News For September 08, 2016

Benchmarks closed mostly unchanged on Wednesday after Fed’s Beige Book report indicated moderate growth in coming months. Meanwhile, Sprouts Farmers Market reduced its quarterly and full year guidance, which in turn had a negative impact on consumer staples sector. Declines in consumer staples stocks pulled the Dow and S&P 500 down. However, the Nasdaq managed to close at its all-time record high following gains in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).

For a look at the issues currently facing the markets, make sure to read today’s Ahead of Wall Street article.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) decreased 0.1%, to close at 18,526.14. The S&P 500 fell 0.32 points to close at 2,186.16. However, the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 5,283.93 gaining 0.2%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 2.6% to settle at 11.71. A total of around 6.5 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 6 billion. Advancers outpaced declining stocks on the NYSE. For 60% stocks that advanced, 37% declined.

What Weighed on the Dow and S&P 500?

Fed’s Beige Book showed that most of the districts signaled “that national economic activity continued to expand at a modest pace” during the period of July-August. Moreover, consumer spending remained “little changed”, while tourism activity was unchanged.

The Beige Book further added that wage pressures were “fairly modest,” and is also expected to increase moderately in coming months. However, it stated that there can be some uncertainty due to the upcoming presidential elections, which eventually had a negative impact on both the Dow and S&P 500.

In company news, Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc’s (SFM) shares fell 13.7% after the company forecasted that its third quarter same-store sales growth will remain flat as compared to previous projection of 3.5% to 4.5% increase. Full-year same store sales growth is also reduced from 3.5%-4.5% to 1.5%-2.5%.

Declines in Sprouts Farmers Market led the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) to fall 0.9%, which was the biggest decliner among the S&P 500 sectors. Some of its components including, Mead Johnson Nutrition Company (NYSE:MJN) (MJN) and Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM), Inc. (WFM) decreased 5.5% and 5.3%, respectively.

What Supported the Nasdaq?

Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) shares rose 0.6% after the tech giant unveiled iPhone 7 at an event in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Gains in Apple led the tech-based index, Nasdaq to close at its all-time record high. (Read More: Here's Everything We Learned From Today's Apple Event )

Separately, Apache Corp (NYSE:APA). (APA) reported that it had discovered a new gas and oil reserve in West Texas. Shares of Apache increased 6.7%, which was the best performer among the S&P 500 energy companies. Gains in Apache led the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE (NYSE:XLE)) to rise 0.6%, which emerged as the biggest gainer among the S&P 500 sectors.Apache carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here .

Stocks that Made Headlines

Tractor Supply Issues Q3 Guidance, Trims 2016 View

Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) provided a soft third-quarter 2016 guidance based on the quarter-to-date performance and consequently trimmed its full-year 2016 projections. ( Read More)

Hewlett Packard Spin-Off News Dulls Q3 Earnings Beat

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company’s (HPE) quarterly results were overshadowed by the company’s announcement of its decision to spin off the software business. ( Read More)

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) to Sell Majority Stake in Security Business to TPG

Intel Corporation (INTC) is divesting a majority stake in its security division to alternative asset fund manager TPG. (Read More)

Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCA) to Acquire Stake in Formula One Group

Liberty Media Corporation (LMCA) is set for a two-phase takeover of the Formula One Group with an aggregate payment of $8 billion. (Read More)

L-3 Communications to Buy Australia-Based Micreo

L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (LLL) has entered into an agreement to purchase Micreo Limited, a specialized Electronic Warfare subsystems provider based in Brisbane, Australia. ( Read More)

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