Investing.com – Tech led the rally on Wall Street midday Thursday, inspired by strong gains in Apple, while Bed Bath & Beyond fell to an 18-year lower after the retailer cut it sales and profits forecast.
A cluster of popular tech stocks followed Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares higher after JPMorgan said the tech giant was making progress weaning itself off the iPhone amid a transition from a hardware company to a services company.
"We expect increasing appreciation of acceleration in growth, along with greater visibility into earnings and cash flow with increasing mix of Services," JPMorgan said.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) also enjoyed gains, supporting the broader communications services sector.
There was no optimism on Wall Street for Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) as its stock crashed 21%, wiping out more than quarter of the company's market cap, after its second-quarter earnings report prompted investors to head for the exit.
Bed Bath said its sees current quarter sales to fall in the "mid-single digit" range and fourth quarter revenues to tumble in the "high single digit range," citing changes both in its corporate calendar and "tariffs on imports from China."
Carnival (NYSE:CCL) stock was also found wanting, falling about 5% on weaker-than-expected guidance, which offset an above-forecast earnings report.
Carnival forecast fourth-quarter earnings in a range of 65 to 69 cents a share, below estimates of 74 cents.
Beaten-up airlines stocks got some reprieve Thursday, however, as Imperial Capital said it was time to buy airlines as they were beginning to adjust to higher fuel prices by reducing capacity.
The bank singled out Alaska Air (NYSE:ALK), praising the airline's "capacity discipline" and "industry-leading revenue per available seat mile," which is a key metric used to measure the performance of airlines.
In health care, WellCare Health Plans (NYSE:WCG) rallied 5% after it reached an agreement to buy Aetna's Medicare Part D drug plan. The sale comes as Aetna (NYSE:AET) seeks U.S. antitrust approval for a planned acquisition by CVS (NYSE:CVS).