U.S. stocks sold off on Thursday as ongoing tariff jitters and a downbeat forecast from Walmart dampened investor risk appetite.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 450.94 points, or 1.01%, to 44,176.65, the S&P 500 lost 26.63 points, or 0.43%, to 6,117.52 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 93.89 points, or 0.47%, to 19,962.36.
Market Movers
U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba rose 8.1% after the online marketplace reported financial results for the December quarter. The company posted revenue of 280.15 billion yuan ($38.38 billion), an 8% increase from the prior year and roughly in line with the 279.34 billion yuan analysts forecast. Management said the company showed substantial progress in its “user first, AI-driven” strategies during the period.
Carvana stock fell 12% to $247.64, even after the auto dealer reported fourth-quarter sales and earnings that topped expectations. Carvana said it “expects significant growth” in retail unit sales and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization in 2025, but didn’t provide specific guidance. D.A. Davidson analyst Michael Baker lifted his price target to $260 from $220 and maintained a Hold rating, arguing the pricey shares could keep gaining if certain conditions are met.
Walmart fell 6.5% after supplying weak guidance for fiscal 2026, the period ending next January. For the full year, the retailer expects net sales to increase by 3% to 4%. Analysts were expecting around 4% growth from the previous year. Adjusted earnings also came in below expectations, with the $2.55 midpoint of the guidance range missing the $2.77 Wall Street was looking for.
Wayfair fell 0.5%. The online furniture retailer posted revenue of $3.12 billion for the fourth quarter, topping the $3.066 billion analysts expected. However, adjusting for one-time charges, the company reported a loss of 25 cents per share, more than double the adjusted loss from the prior year.
Vimeo stock plunged 19% after the video hosting and sharing platform reported a decline in profit after its number of subscribers fell in the fourth quarter. Earnings of 1 cent a share came in below analysts’ calls for 3 cents a share. The company also guided for lower revenue in the current quarter.
Palantir Technologies fell 5.2%, extending losses from Wednesday, when the stock closed down 10%. The decline followed reports of potential U.S. defense budget cuts, and came after CEO Alex Karp adopted a new trading plan to sell up to 9,975,000 shares of the company.
Super Micro Computer declined 1.6% and snapped its latest winning streak. The stock closed up 8% at $60.25 on Wednesday, extending the rally to five days. The stock’s longest rally was 12 days finishing in December 2013.
Microsoft rose 0.5%. The gains came after the company unveiled its Majorana 1 quantum processing unit, which is part of a research effort and not commercially available. Microsoft said it was one step closer to building quantum computers “capable of solving meaningful, industrial-scale problems.”
Shares of quantum stocks were mostly rising on the heels of the Microsoft announcement. D-Wave Quantum was up 13%, Rigetti Computing was up 4%.
Market News
Ryan Cohen Boosts Alibaba Stake to $1 Billion
Ryan Cohen still has his sights set on Alibaba Group and has been building up his position in the Chinese e-commerce behemoth.
Cohen is known as the meme-stock king for helping ignite explosive rallies in GameStop and other businesses during the pandemic. In recent months, he has grown his personal stake in Alibaba to roughly $1 billion, or about 7 million shares, according to people familiar with the matter.
Chinese Bubble Tea Chain Mixue Aims to Raise $443 Million in Hong Kong IPO
China's largest bubble tea and drinks firm, Mixue Group, is seeking to raise HK$3.45 billion ($443.66 million) in a Hong Kong initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing made on Friday.
The company is selling 17.1 million shares at a fixed price of HK$202.5 each, the filings showed.
Bookbuilding for the IPO starts on Friday and the stock is due to begin trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on March 3.
