The three major U.S. equity indexes closed lower on Thursday, following a choppy trading session that turned gains into losses by noon. The Dow Jones industrials ended the day down 0.3%, the S&P 500 closed 0.8% lower, and the Nasdaq dipped by 0.61%. Eight of 11 sectors closed lower, with utilities (2.51%) and industrials (1.91%) posting the biggest losses. The only gains were seen in communications services (0.36%), energy (0.18%) and tech (0.07%).
The weekly report on new claims for jobless benefits came in below expectations Thursday morning, and below the prior week’s total. Existing home sales were lower month over month in September, and that probably led to the downturn in share prices in the late morning.
All three major indexes opened lower Friday but had bounced into positive territory shortly before noon.
After markets closed Thursday, CSX reported better-than-expected adjusted earnings per share (EPS) and revenues. The stock traded up about 0.8% late Friday morning.
Snap beat EPS estimates but missed slightly on revenue. A weak outlook for the current quarter was sinking the shares Friday morning. The stock was down about 30%.
Before markets opened on Friday, Verizon beat both top-line and bottom-line estimates. Verizon missed estimates for new subscriptions and shares are being punished, down more than 6% late Friday morning.
American Express beat the consensus EPS estimate but missed the revenue estimate by about $25 million. Even though revenue was up 24% year over year, investors did not see enough. Shares traded down about 6.2%.
Schlumberger beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Shares traded up about 5.8% just before noon Friday.
Cadence Design, Discover Financial and Range Resources are scheduled to report quarterly results after U.S. markets close on Monday.
Here is a look at four companies on deck to report results first thing Tuesday morning.
General Electric
Over the past 12 months, shares of General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) have slipped by more than 31%. The shares dipped to their 52-week low in early July and have bounced higher and lower again since then.
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