Wal-Mart plunged 9 per cent Wednesday after the company said sales would be “relatively flat” in its current fiscal year because of currency fluctuations.
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JPMorgan’s stock fell $1.75, or 2.8 percent, to $59.83.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell six points, or 0.3 per cent, to 1,997. Wall Street was poised for modest gains at the open with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.2 percent. While Bank of America gained after reporting earnings, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo declined. Wal-Mart tumbled 9.1% to $60.65. Wells Fargo reported a slight gain in profits for the quarter, but its lending margins fell. A year ago the bank posted earnings of $1.36 a share.
USA stocks’ losses deepened Wednesday after a gloomy earnings forecast from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. weighed on shares of consumer-focused companies.
Goldman Sachs, which reports earnings on Thursday, is the biggest yawn among bank analysts, with 56.3 percent slapping a “hold” designation on the stock – the most for any major U.S. bank, according to Bloomberg. EUROPE’S DAY: In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.6 percent.
August business inventories remained unchanged while economists expected a 0.1 percent increase.
CHINA DATA: Inflation eased in China last month, stoking expectations that Beijing would have more leeway for interest rate cuts or other measures to boost economic growth. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had predicted a seasonally adjusted 0.2% decrease in the producer-price index (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-producer-prices-fall-05-in-september-on-cheaper-gas-2015-10-14)-an important inflation indicator-while September retail sales rose 0.1% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/retail-sales-rise-just-01-in-september-2015-10-14), in line with estimates.
ASIA’S DAY: Asian stocks closed lower for a second day.
China’s share markets slid into negative territory in the afternoon trading session, with the Shanghai Composite down almost 1 percent.
ENERGY: Benchmark US crude fell 44 cents to $46.22 a barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude oil was down 0.3% at $49.67 a barrel.
In currencies, the euro rose 0.5% against the dollar to $1.1445, while the dollar was 0.5% lower against the yen at Yen119.13.
NEW YORK – USA stocks are opening mixed as traders pore over the latest earnings reports for the third quarter. The company is grappling with declining demand for personal computers.
Delta Air Lines rose 2.4% to $48.87 after its quarterly profit beat estimates. A few investors say the declines are overdone, and they’re expecting a bounce back in the final quarter of the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up less than 0.1%, a day after the blue-chip index seven-day winning streak was snapped.
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Treasury yields traded lower after the morning data, with the 10-year (U.S.:US10Y) falling below 2 percent for the first time since October. 5.
