Stocks Close Mostly Lower Following Slew Of Earnings - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday before ending the session mostly in negative territory. The lower close on the day came on the heels of the mixed performance seen in the previous session.

The major averages all closed in the red, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq underperformed its counterparts. While the Nasdaq slid 34.29 points or 0.7 percent to 5,215.97, the Dow edged down 29.65 points or 0.2 percent to 18,169.68 and the S&P 500 fell 6.39 points or 0.3 percent to 2,133.04.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders digested the latest batch of earnings news, with a slew of well-known companies releasing their quarterly results.

Shares of Nokia (NOK) showed a notable move to the downside after the telecom equipment company reported a third consecutive quarterly loss.

Auto parts retailer O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY) also came under pressure after reporting third quarter earnings growth but providing disappointing guidance.

On the other hand, shares of Western Digital (WDC) showed a strong move to the upside after the disk drive maker reported better than expected third quarter results.

Drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) also posted standout gain after reporting third quarter results that exceeded estimates and raising its full-year guidance.

Ford (F), Twitter (TWTR), Dow Chemical (DOW), and UPS (UPS) are among the other big-name companies that released their quarterly results.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended October 22nd.

The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 258,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 261,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 255,000.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed an unexpected drop in durable goods orders in the month of September.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders dipped by 0.1 percent in September after rising by a revised 0.3 percent in August. Orders had been expected to rise by 0.2 percent.

Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 0.2 percent in September after inching up by a revised 0.1 percent in August. Economists had expected ex-transportation orders to tick up by 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a significant rebound in pending home sales in the month of September.

NAR said its pending home sales index jumped by 1.5 percent to 110.0 in September after tumbling by 2.5 percent to a revised 108.4 in August. Economists had expected pending sales to climb by 1.0 percent.

A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

Sector News

Networking stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading session, resulting in a 2.6 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.

Infinera (INFN) led the networking sector lower, plunging by 14.1 percent after reporting better than expected third quarter earnings but providing disappointing guidance.

Substantial weakness was also visible among commercial real estate stocks, as reflected by the 2.7 percent drop by the Morgan Stanley REIT Index. The index slumped to a seven-month closing low.

Gold, housing, and steel stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, while notable strength was visible among telecom and trucking stocks.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid by 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line, the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries saw notable weakness but closed well off their worst levels of the session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed by 5.3 basis points to 1.843 percent.

Looking Ahead

Trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to the advance report on third quarter GDP, which is expected to show 2.5 percent growth.

Earnings news is also likely to remain in focus, with Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) among the companies releasing their quarterly results after the close of today's trading.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), Chevron (CVX), Exxon Mobil (XOM), and Hershey (HSY) are also due to report their results before the start of trading on Friday.