Dow Tumbles Over 200 Points; CVS Health Cuts Profit Forecast

U.S. stocks turned lower toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index dipping more than 200 points on Wednesday.

The Dow traded down 0.55% to 38,784.80 while the NASDAQ fell 0.67% to 16,257.11. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.45% to 5,216.41.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed by 1.7% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, health care shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

CVS Health Corp CVS shares fell over 1% on Wednesday fell after the company reported mixed second-quarter earnings and cut annual profit guidance.

The company reported second-quarter sales of $91.23 billion, missing the consensus of $91.51 billion. Adjusted EPS of $1.83 decreased from $2.21 in the prior year, beating the consensus of $1.73.

CVS Health revised its adjusted EPS guidance to $6.40-$6.65 from at least $7.00 versus consensus of $6.98. CVS Health also revised its full-year 2024 cash flow from operations guidance to approximately $9.0 billion from at least $10.5 billion.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Upstart Holdings, Inc. UPST shares shot up 48% to $35.26 after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter financial results and issued third-quarter revenue guidance above estimates on Tuesday.
• Shares of G1 Therapeutics, Inc. GTHX got a boost, surging 66% to $7.05 after the company announced it will be acquired by Pharmacosmos Group in an all-cash transaction valued at $405 million.
• PetIQ, Inc. PETQ shares were also up, gaining 48% to $30.41 after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter adjusted earnings results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Stem, Inc. STEM shares dropped 42% to $0.5791 after the company reported mixed second-quarter financial results.
• Shares of Expion360 Inc. XPON were down 69% to $0.0810 after the company reported the pricing of $10 million underwritten public offering.
• Talis Biomedical Corporation TLIS was down, falling 49% to $4.63. The company announced board restructuring, appointed new directors and updated investors on potential bankruptcy proceedings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.7% to $75.18 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,433.40.

Silver traded down 1.2% to $26.88 on Wednesday, while copper fell 2.1% to $3.9440.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 1.54%, Germany's DAX rose 1.50% and France's CAC 40 climbed 1.91%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index gained 2.01%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 1.75%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 jumping 1.19%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 1.38%, China's Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.09% and S&P BSE Sensex jumping 1.11%.

Economics

• The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index rose 2.8% month-over-month for July.
• Mortgage applications rose by 6.9% from the prior week in the period ending August 2.
• The EIA said crude oil inventories in the U.S. declined by 3.728 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 2, compared to market estimates of a 0.4 million-barrel decline.

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