Nasdaq Down 100 Points; American Express Earnings Miss Views

U.S. stocks traded lower toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping around 100 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.51% to 33,725.78 while the NASDAQ fell 0.84% to 12,055.39. The S&P 500, also fell, dropping, 0.71% to 4,125.01.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Consumer staples shares rose by 0.2% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Inter Parfums, Inc. IPAR, up 4%, and Natura &Co Holding S.A. NTCO, up 4%.
• In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares dipped by 1.4%.

Top Headline

American Express Co AXP reported mixed Q1 financial results.

American Express reported Q1 revenue (net of interest expense) growth of 22% year-on-year to $14.28 billion, exceeding the consensus of $14.03 billion. EPS of $2.40 missed the consensus of $2.65.

American Express reaffirmed guidance for revenue growth of 15% - 17% (consensus of $60.82 billion) and EPS of $11.00 - $11.40 (consensus of $11.10).

Equities Trading UP

• Badger Meter, Inc. BMI shares shot up 13% to $136.40 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results.
• Shares of Augmedix, Inc. AUGX got a boost, shooting 74% to $3.13 after the company announced a partnership with HCA Healthcare to accelerate the development of AI-enabled ambient documentation.
• Snap-on Incorporated SNA shares were also up, gaining 9% to $261.91 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Windtree Therapeutics, Inc. WINT shares dropped 59% to $2.32 after the company announced the pricing of its $10.8 million underwritten public offering.
• Shares of Eagle Bancorp, Inc. EGBN were down 20% to $25.22 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 results.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY was down, falling 35% to $0.3020 on above-average volume Thursday following reports the company is preparing to file for bankruptcy in the coming days.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2% to $77.60 while gold traded up 0.5% at $2,018.20.

Silver traded up 0.1% to $25.39 on Thursday while copper fell 1.2% to $4.0290.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.15%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.05% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.46%. The German DAX fell 0.62%, French CAC 40 fell 0.14% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.1%.

The Eurozone recorded a trade surplus of EUR 4.6 billion in February versus a year-ago deficit of EUR 9.4 billion. Spanish trade deficit shrank to EUR 2.46 billion in February from EUR 4.25 billion in the year-ago month. The manufacturing climate indicator in France dropped to 101 in April from 104 a month ago. The annual producer inflation in Germany eased for the sixth consecutive month to 7.5% in March.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.18%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.14% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.09%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.1%.

Japanese trade deficit widened to JPY 754.7 billion in March from JPY 464.9 billion in the year-ago month. Exports from Japan increased by 4.3% year-over-year to JPY 8,824.3 billion, while imports rose 7.3% to JPY 9,578.8 billion.

Economics

• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index dropped to -31.3 points in April from -23.2 in March.
• U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 5 thousand to 245 thousand in the week ended April 15, above market estimates of 240 thousand.
• Existing home sales in the US fell 2.4% month-over-month to an annual rate of 4.44 million in March.
• U.S. natural gas stocks increased 75 billion cubic feet last week, higher than market estimates of a 69 bcf rise, the EIA said.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 106,511,730 cases with around 1,158,680 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,857,990 cases and 531,230 deaths, while France reported over 39,922,840 COVID-19 cases with 166,160 deaths. In total, there were at least 686,008,230 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,844,800 deaths.