The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed lower on Friday as deteriorating consumer sentiment data and the Middle East conflict soured investors on riskier bets and overshadowed upbeat quarterly earnings from some of the largest U.S. banks.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.15 points, or 0.12%, to 33,670.29, the S&P 500 lost 21.83 points, or 0.50%, to 4,327.78 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 166.99 points, or 1.23%, to 13,407.23.
Market Movers
JPMorgan Chase posted third-quarter earnings of $4.33 a share, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.95, and rising from year-earlier profit of $3.12 a share. The bank benefited from a continued surge in net interest income and its acquisition of First Republic Bank. JPMorgan shares rose 1.5%.
Wells Fargo posted quarterly earnings of $1.48 a share, easily topping estimates of $1.24. Revenue rose to $20.86 billion from $19.6 billion. The stock gained 3.1%.
Citigroup reported third-quarter earnings on Friday of $1.63 a share, better than analysts’ expectations of $1.23 a share. Shares of the bank fell 0.24%.
BlackRock posted quarterly earnings that beat expectations. The world’s largest money manager recorded $3 billion of quarterly net inflows. Net outflows were $49 billion, stemming from lower-fee index equity strategies and $19 billion from a single international client, the company said. Assets under management rose by $1.1 trillion from a year earlier. Shares sank 1.34%.
UnitedHealth , the managed care company, earned an adjusted $6.56 a share in the third quarter, beating analysts’ estimates of $6.32. UnitedHealth on Friday also raised its full-year outlook. UnitedHealth rose 2.64%.
Dollar General said its former chief executive, Todd Vasos, will be coming out of retirement to lead the discount retailer. He previously led the company from June 2015 through November 2022, when he handed over the reins to Jeff Owen, who has stepped down. Dollar General also narrowed its fiscal-year sales growth forecast to a range of 1.5% to 2.5%, compared with a previous range of 1.3% to 3.3%. The stock rose 9.16% and was the best performer in the S&P 500.
Progressive jumped 8.13% after the insurance company reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and said net premiums written jumped 20% from a year earlier to $15.59 billion.
Microsoft‘s $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been approved by regulators in the U.K., clearing the closure of the deal. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority said Friday that its concerns over the threat to competition posed by the deal were resolved by Microsoft ‘s transfer of cloud-streaming rights for Activision’s videogames to France’s Ubisoft. Microsoft fell 1% and Activision slipped less than 0.1%.
Smart Global Holdings , the computing and memory company, said fiscal fourth-quarter sales declined 12.6% to $316.7 million, missing analysts’ forecast of $375 million. The company said it expects sales from continuing operations in its fiscal first quarter of $275 million plus or minus $25 million. Shares of Smart Global sank 44%.
Netflix fell 1.53% to after Wolfe analyst Peter Supino downgraded shares of the streaming company to Peer Perform from Outperform and removed his $500 price target on the stock.
Market News
AMC Stock Drops 13% As Taylor Swift Movie Hits AMC
Taylor Swift’s wildly popular "Eras" tour is now officially showing in AMC theaters and others in the form of a concert movie, bringing speculation about how the "Taylor Swift effect" could play out for the Kansas-based movie theater operator.
AMC shares dropped 13% on Friday.
Flying Drone Taxi Maker Ehang Receives Another Regulatory Green Light in China
Chinese drone maker EHang Holdings gained safety approval certification from China's aviation authority, bringing its unmanned passenger copters one step closer to commercial use, the Guangzhou-based company announced on Friday.
The 'type certification' from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is for EHang's 216-S model, a 16-rotor drone that can carry two passengers at speeds of 130 kilometres an hour at a max range of 30 kilometres.
Sigma Labs Soars After Definitive Agreement to Acquire NextTrip
Shares of Sigma Additive Solutions leaped after it signed a definitive agreement for its NextTrip deal. The company had announced the deal over a month ago. The firm added NextTrip has an implied enterprise valuation of ~$50M.
If all business milestones are achieved, NextTrip will receive a total of six million shares of SASI's common stock.
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