Markets Lower As Geopolitical Uncertainty Continues

U.S. stocks were lower as leaders from Britain, France, Germany and Canada have all made their respective countries position clear that Russia will face further sanctions if air investigators are not given full access to the crash site in Ukraine.

Israel continued its ground offensive in the Gaza strip with no end to the fighting in sight, despite appeals for a ceasefire.

Nevertheless, the major indices came off session lows after President Obama fell short of announcing further sanctions against Russia in a televised statement.

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  • The Dow lost 0.28 percent, closing at 17,051.73.
  • The S&P 500 lost 0.23 percent, closing at 1,976.63.
  • The NASDAQ lost 0.17 percent, closing at 4,424.70.
  • Gold gained 0.29 percent, trading at $1,313.20 an ounce.
  • Oil gained 0.90 percent, trading at $102.87 a barrel.
  • Silver gained 0.52 percent, trading at $21.00 an ounce.

News Of Note

June Chicago Fed National Activity Index fell to +0.12 from +0.16 in May and missed the consensus of +0.18.

Analyst Upgrades And Downgrades Of Note

Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded America Movil AMX to Underweight from Equal-Weight. Shares lost 2.48 percent, closing at $23.22.

Analysts at Barclays maintained an Equal-Weight rating on Anadarko Petroleum APC with a price target lowered to $121 from a previous $125. Shares gained 0.50 percent, closing at $108.87.

Analysts at JMP Securities upgraded Apple AAPL to Market Outperform from Market Perform with a $135 price target. Also, analysts at UBS maintained a Buy rating on Apple with a price target raised to $115 from a previous $100. Shares lost 0.51 percent, closing at $93.95.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded Baidu BIDU to Overweight from Equal-Weight. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $199.09 before closing the day at $197.72, up 3.43 percent.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank maintained a Hold rating on Bank of New York Mellon BK with a price target raised to $37 from a previous $36. Also, analysts at Credit Suisse maintained a Neutral rating on Bank of New York with a price target raised to $42 from a previous $39. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $38.70 before closing the day at $38.44, up 0.03 percent.

Analysts at JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating on Cliffs Natural Resources CLF with a price target lowered to $19 from a previous $26. Shares lost 2.65 percent, closing at $15.09.

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Analysts at JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating on Ericsson ERIC with a price target raised to $14 from a previous $13.50. Shares lost 1.34 percent, closing at $12.54.

Analysts at six different IPO underwriters initiated coverage of GoPro GPRO with Neutral ratings while analysts at Piper Jaffray initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and $48 price target. Analysts at JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and $51 price target. Shares gained 0.36 percent, closing at $41.66.

Analysts at Barclays maintained an Overweight rating on Honeywell HON with a price target raised to $106 from a previous $101. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $97.50 before closing the day at $97.34, up 0.54 percent.

Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Imax IMAX to Buy from Hold with a $32 price target. Shares gained 2.89 percent, closing at $25.31.

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Itron ITRI to Underperform from Buy. Shares lost 10.00 percent, closing at $37.35.

Analysts at FBR Capital upgraded JPMorgan JPM to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target raised to $70 from a previous $55. Shares gained 0.02 percent, closing at $58.24.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded Monster Beverage MNST to Equal-Weight from Overweight. Shares lost 4.53 percent, closing at $64.74.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank maintained a Buy rating on Schlumberger SLB with a price target raised to $138 from a previous $120. Shares gained 0.61 percent, closing at $113.04.

Analysts at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey downgraded Shire SHPG to Neutral from Buy with a price target raised to $269 from a previous $250. Also, analysts at Leerink Partners upgraded Shire to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target maintained at $260. Shares lost 1.66 percent, closing at $252.80.

Analysts at Belus Capital Advisors upgraded Starbucks SBUX to Buy from Hold. Shares lost 0.42 percent, closing at $77.61.

Analysts at Rafferty Capital downgraded Wells Fargo WFC to Hold from Buy with a price target unchanged at $57.85. Shares lost 0.45 percent, closing t $51.05.

Equities-Specific News Of Note

McDonald's MCD and Yum! Brands YUM both suspended orders from a Shanghai meat supplier following Chinese investigations over expired chicken and beef products. Shares of McDonald's lost 1.45 percent, closing at $97.55 while shares of Yum! Brands lost 4.25 percent, closing at $74.13.

BlackBerry BBRY hired Marty Beard as its chief operating officer. Previously, Beard was the CEO of LiveOps. Shares lost 0.40 percent, closing at $10.00.

Tiffany's TIF CEO Michael Kowalski will retire in April of next year after more than three decades of service with the company. Shares lost 0.59 percent, closing at $99.09.

21st Century Fox FOXA may sell its wholly-owned Sky Italia unit and its 57 percent stake in Sky Deutschland to British Sky Broadcasting, with the proceeds being used to support a potential acquisition of Time Warner TWX. Shares of 21st Century Fox lost 0.36 percent, closing at $32.89 while shares of Time Warner hit new 52-week highs of $88.13 before closing the day at $87.36, up 0.15 percent.

CBS Outdoor Americas CBSO has agreed to purchase Van Wagner Communications' outdoor advertising business for $690 million. Shares gained 4.48 percent, closing at $34.52.

New York's Attorney General began an investigation over DeVry's DV TV ads and other marketing channels that are alleged to contain false advertising and deceptive practices. Shares lost 2.35 percent, closing at $41.48.

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Facebook FB launched a new feature called Save in which users can create a stored list of content for future visits. A “Save” button will be placed on the social network platform. Shares gained 1.43 percent, closing at $69.40.

According to Re/code, Yahoo! YHOO will acquire Flurry, a provider of analysts and ad services mobile publishers and advertisers. Shares lost 0.15 percent, closing at $33.28.

ABB ABB and Volvo will collaborate to co-develop and commercialize electric and hybrid buses Shares gained 0.04 percent, closing at $22.80.

Campbell Soup CPB said that it expects its 2015 performance will be below its long-term EPS growth target of four percent to six percent and sales growth of three percent to four percent. The company will provide specific full year fiscal 2015 guidance during its fourth quarter results due on September 8. Shares gained 0.48 percent, closing at $44.16.

Vodafone VOD and Portugal Telecom PT will deploy and share fiber networks over 25 years covering 900,000 homes in Portugal. Shares of Vodafone lost 0.96 percent, closing at $33.07 while shares of Portugal Telecom gained 4.72 percent, closing at $2.44.

Chevron CVX began production at its $1.4 billion premium base oil facility in Mississippi after more than six years of development. Shares gained 0.69 percent, closing at $131.29.

Exxon Mobil XOM filed an application with U.S. regulators to export liquefied natural gas from the Alaska LNG project. Shares gained 0.34 percent, closing at $103.08.

Elliott Management has taken a stake of more than $1 billion in EMC EMC and assume an activist role in convincing the company to push for a spinoff of its VMware VMW unit. Elliott Management believes that by doing so EMC's lagging stock will receive a substantial boost. Shares of EMC hit new 52-week highs of $28.37 before closing the day at $28.33, up 5.00 percent. Shares of VMware lost 2.48 percent, closing at $92.95.

Winners Of Note

Russian-based Severstal announced it will sell two of its North American steel plants to Steel Dynamics STLD and AK Steel AKS for a combined $2.3 billion. Shares of Steel Dynamics hit new 52-week highs of $20.82 before closing the day at $20.76, up 11.73 percent. On the other hand, shares of AK Steel hit new 52-week highs of $9.14 before reversing and closing the day at $8.46, down 4.19 percent.

According to Chinese media, the government's recently announced sales tax break for electric vehicle purchases and noted that the offer does not apply to vehicles made outside of China. Shares of Kandi Technologies KNDI, one of China's most recognized electric vehicles manufacturer rose 10.09 percent, closing at $21.60.

TETRA Technologies TTI has agreed to acquire Compressor Systems for $825 million. The deal is expected to make TETRA's affiliate Compressco Partners a serious player in the pumping gas space as it will increase Compressco's total horsepower offering from approximately 187,000 to one million-plus and allow Compressco to make use of new compressor packages for compression services to customers. Shares gained 5.76 percent, closing at $11.76.

According to Barron's, Horsehead Holdings ZINC shares have a 40 percent upside. Barron's noted that an opening of a new plant could lower the company's zinc break-even costs by $0.20 per pound. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $19.57 before closing the day at $19.54, up 8.50 percent.

Decliners Of Note

Shares of Herbalife HLF traded lower in advance of Pershing Square's presentation on Tuesday in which Bill Ackman will present findings from his investigation into the company's Nutrition Club. Shares of Herbalife lost 11.21 percent, closing at $54.02.

EZCORP's EZPW Chief Financial Officer Mark Kuchenrither has been named the company's interim CEO by the company's voting shareholder Phillip Ean Cohen. Kuchenrither's appointment follows Cohen's recent moves of removing the prior CEO Paul Rothamel, chairman William Love and director Joseph Beal who also resigned from the company's board of directors. Shares lost 12.23 percent, closing at $9.76.

Earnings Of Note

This morning, BB&T BBT reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $0.58, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74. Revenue of $2.30 billion missed the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Net income for the quarter fell to $425 million from $547 million in the same quarter a year ago as the company saw a 49 percent net income drop from a year ago to $86 million. Net interest margin fell nine bps to 3.43 percent from last quarter because of lower rates on new securities and loans. However, the company's loan portfolio rose 2.5 percent from a year ago to $117.1 billion while commercial loans rose 2.7 percent to $39.4 billion. BBT also reported that its credit quality improved to the lowest level since 2007 at 0.40 percent from 0.75 percent a year ago. Shares lost 4.04 percent, closing at $37.33.

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This morning, SunTrust Banks STI reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $0.81, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77. Revenue of $2.20 billion beat the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. Net income for the quarter fell to $387 million from $780 million in the same quarter a year ago as the company recorded a $204 million pre-tax charge relating to a settlement agreement regarding its administration of the federal Home Affordable Modification Program. The charge was only partially offset by a $105 million pre-tax gain pursuant to its completion of the sale of RidgeWorth Capital Management. SunTrust's net interest income rose $5 million to $1.24 billion from a year ago while net interest margin rose to 3.25 percent from 3.19 percent because of loan growth and an additional day in the quarter. Average performing loans rose $2.3 billion from a year ago due to growth in the C&I, commercial real estate, and consumer portfolios while average client deposits rose two percent to $130.5 billion from a year ago. Shares lost 1.11 percent, closing at $39.28.

This morning, Halliburton HAL reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $0.91, in-line with the consensus estimate. Revenue of $8.05 billion beat the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. Net income for the quarter rose to $775 million from $648 million as the company saw its North American revenue improve to $4.34 billion from $3.8 billion a year ago. Europe/Africa/CIS revenue rose to $1.38 billion from $1.299 billion, and Middle East and Asia revenue rose to $1.43 billion from $1.27 billion. Halliburton noted that it expects its North American activity level to improve as it plans to accelerate additions to its hydraulic fracturing fleet and logistics capabilities. The company also raised its share buyback authorization to $6 billion from $5 billion. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $72.20 before closing the day at $71.00, up 0.10 percent.

This morning, Manpower MAN reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $1.35, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33. Revenue of $5.32 billion missed the consensus estimate of $5.30 billion. Net earnings for the quarter rose to $109.8 million from $68.2 million in the same quarter a year ago as the company saw revenue growth improve in key countries such as the U.S., U.K. and Italy. The company announced that it expects its third quarter earnings per share to be in a range of $1.46 to $1.54. Shares lost 3.22 percent, closing at $80.46.

After the market closed, Netflix NFLX reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $1.15, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14. Revenue of $1.34 billion was in-line with the consensus estimate. Shares were trading higher by 0.59 percent at $454.62 following the earnings release.

After the market closed, Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $3.50, beating the consensus estimate of $3.07. Revenue of $1.05 billion beat the consensus estimate of $987.21 million. Shares were trading higher by 9.59 percent at $646.53 following the earnings release.

Quote Of The Day

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful." -Warren Buffett.

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