By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The S&P and Nasdaq eked out record closes despite giving up some gains on Tuesday as a regulatory probe into previous deals by large-cap tech companies soured investor sentiment on stocks.
The S&P 500 rose 0.17%, Nasdaq Composite added 0.11% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat.
The Federal Trade Commission issued special orders to five tech giants - including Alphabet's Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) – requesting information on historical mergers to gauge reporting practices to antitrust authorities.
The request was for research purposes, but FTC Chairman Joseph Simons reportedly said "hundreds" of deals under scrutiny could lead to some "unwinding" of mergers.
The move raised fears over a more aggressive regulatory crackdown on big tech at a time when U.S. authorities are already investigating Google, Facebook, Amazon and others over potential anti-competitive behavior.
Also adding pressure on tech, Facebook fell 2.8% after Pivotal Research downgraded the stock to sell from hold and lowered its target price to $180 from $215.
In telecoms, T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) and Sprint (NYSE:S) surged after winning approval to go ahead with their merger. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero concluded the deal was unlikely to lessen competition.
As sentiment on tech stocks turned sour, the broader market gave up some gains, following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's testimony early Tuesday.
Powell expressed confidence in central bank's current monetary policy measures and reiterated that the economy remained in a good place in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
"We’ll be watching this (coronavirus impact) carefully," Powell told lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee. "'What will be the effects on the U.S. economy?' 'Will they be persistent?' 'Will they be material?' That’s really the question."
But with the death roll in China rising above 1,000 and those infected topping 40,000, corporate earnings are reflecting the threat of the virus to the bottom line.
Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) slumped 19% after reporting mixed earnings and warning that sales would come under pressure from the coronavirus.
Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS), meanwhile, fell nearly 1% after the toymaker reported earnings that topped Wall Street estimates.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) gave up gains early-day gains to end flat, after the aircraft maker said that it booked no new jetliner orders in January, as it continues efforts to restore its reputation following the 737 MAX crisis.
Energy, meanwhile, rebounded from recent weakness amid an upswing in oil prices on rising hopes that Russia would support OPEC+ proposals for deeper production cuts to offset the impact of the coronavirus on Chinese oil demand.