Mid-Afternoon Market Update: U.S. Stocks Turn Lower; Crude Oil Falls Over 8%

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.68% to 26681.99 while the NASDAQ fell 0.56% to 8129.48. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.66% to 2960.72. Stocks took a big hit on Thursday afternoon after U.S. President Donald Trump said he will be implementing a new 10% tariff on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese goods not already included in existing U.S. tariffs.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 0.8% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cadiz Inc. CDZI, up 7%, and Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobrás EBR, up 5%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 2.3%.

Top Headline

General Motors Company GM reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

General Motors reported second-quarter earnings of $1.64 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.43. The company reported quarterly sales of $36.1 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $36.11 billion. General Motors sees fiscal year 2019 EPS at $5.91-$6.75 versus the $6.62 estimate.

Equities Trading UP

SunPower Corporation SPWR shares shot up 28% to $14.97 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 sales results.

Shares of IZEA Worldwide, Inc. IZEA got a boost, shooting up 33% to $0.5375 after the company announced that it has secured a seven-figure contract with a new customer, a manufacturer who ranks among the top 500 public companies globally.

Myriad Genetics, Inc. MYGN shares were also up, gaining 51% to $43.91 following news UnitedHealthcare issued a positive coverage decision for GeneSight.

Equities Trading DOWN

Pluralsight, Inc. PS shares tumbled 39% to $18.68 after the company issued weak third-quarter guidance.

Shares of Conformis, Inc. CFMS were down 46% to $1.50 after the company reported Q2 results and updated 2019 product revenue expectations.

Whiting Petroleum Corporation WLL was down, falling 39% to $10.73 after the company reported a surprise loss for the second quarter and announced plans to cut 33% of its workforce.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 8.1% to $53.84, while gold traded down 0.8% to $1,449.10.

Silver traded down 0.7% Thursday to $16.285, while copper fell 1.4% to $2.6285.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.75%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.79%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.53%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.7% while UK shares fell 0.03%.

Economics

Initial jobless claims increased 8,000 to 215,000 in the latest week. However, economists projected a reading of 214,000.

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI slipped to 50.4 in July, versus previous reading of 50.6.

The ISM manufacturing index dropped to 51.2 in July, versus prior reading of 51.7. However, economists were expecting a reading of 52.

U.S. construction spending fell 1.3% for June.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 65 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 26, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 52 billion cubic feet.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.