U.S. stocks closed slightly lower on Tuesday, breaking their recent winning streak amid few market-moving catalysts ahead of the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, set to get under way on Thursday.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 61.56 points, or 0.15%, to 40,834.97, the S&P 500 lost 11.13 points, or 0.20%, to 5,597.12 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 59.83 points, or 0.33%, to 17,816.94.
Market Movers
Palo Alto Networks reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.51 a share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.41. Revenue was $2.19 billion, up from $1.95 billion a year earlier and ahead of forecasts for $2.16 billion. The cybersecurity company also issued outlooks for the first quarter and fiscal 2025 that were at the high end of current Wall Street projections. The company’s board authorized an additional $500 million for stock repurchases. The stock rose 7.2%.
Shares of Lowe's were down 1.2% after the home-improvement retailer reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $4.10 a share, topping analysts’ estimates. Total sales in the period fell 5.5% to $23.59 billion, compared with the consensus call of $23.93 billion, while comparable-store sales declined 5.1%, compared with analysts’ calls for a drop of 4.4%. Lowe’s also reduced its fiscal-year outlook for adjusted earnings and sales, citing “lower-than-expected DIY sales and a pressured macroeconomic environment.”
Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng Inc. posted a narrower second-quarter loss as revenue in the period jumped 60%. But weaker-than-expected financial forecasts sent the U.S.-listed shares of XPeng down 5.7%.
Eli Lilly rose 3.1% after the pharmaceutical company said its weight-loss drug tirzepatide reduced the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 94% in prediabetic adults who are obese or overweight.
Boeing was down 4.2%. The aerospace company said it would be grounding its four-plane test fleet of the 777x after finding cracks in the jet’s structure. Boeing has orders for 540 of the aircraft, which it plans to start delivering in 2025, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Paramount Global declined 1.2%. The Wall Street Journal reported media mogul Edgar Bronfman Jr. submitted a $4.3 billion bid to buy National Amusements, through which Shari Redstone and her family control entertainment company Paramount. Bronfman’s bid could jeopardize a previous agreement to merge Paramount with Skydance Media.
Hawaiian jumped 11% after the Justice Department ended its review of the company’s merger with Alaska Air without challenging the deal. The tie-up still needs approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Alaska Air shares fell slightly.
Market News
Walmart Is Seeking Up to $3.74 Billion in Sale of JD.com Stake
Walmart Inc. is seeking to raise up to $3.74 billion by selling its stake in Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com Inc., people familiar with the matter said.
The US retailer is offering 144.5 million shares in a $24.85 to $25.85 price range, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Morgan Stanley is the broker-dealer of the offering, they added.
Chipmaker Microchip Hit by Cyberattack, Slowing Operations
Microchip Technology Inc. said Tuesday that its servers were hit by a cyberattack that has forced the US chipmaker to shut some of its systems and scale back operations.
The company, which supplies chips to the US defense industry, detected suspicious activity involving its information technology systems on Aug. 17, according to a regulatory filing. The company determined two days later that “certain servers and some business operations” had been breached. Shares were down about 1.5% in extended trading.
OpenAI Offers Fine-Tuning for GPT-4o Users to Customize AI Model
OpenAI now allows paying users of its GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini to fine-tune the artificial intelligence model for specific use cases, the Microsoft-backed startup announced today.
Fine-tuning is the process of taking a pre-trained large language model and adjusting it to improve the performance of the model and to better fit a user's specific needs.