X The stock market sold off into midday trading amid rising geopolitical tensions in North Korea and Syria.
All three major indexes moved substantially lower. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lagged with a 0.8% loss, while the S&P 500 moved down 0.7% and the Dow dropped 0.5%. Volume was tracking solidly higher on both exchanges vs. the same time on Monday.
Among the Dow industrials, Walt Disney (DIS) and McDonald's (MCD) paced the advancers in the stock market today, gaining 0.3% apiece. The success of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" led Goldman Sachs (GS) to add the media company to its conviction list. Goldman expects fiscal 2018 to be the studio's "best film slate ever."
On the downside, Apple (AAPL) fell 1.6% after Qualcomm (QCOM) filed a countersuit against the iPhone maker, claiming Apple covered up how iPhone 7s equipped with its chips outperformed those with Intel chips. Qualcomm shares fell 2.5% and are piercing the 50-day moving average in heavy volume.
Financials continue to struggle, with Dow components Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan (JPM) declining 0.9% each. JPMorgan will kick off earnings season on Thursday before the market open. Retail broker Charles Schwab (SCHW) traded down 2% as it approaches its recent lows.
Chip stocks were some of the weakest performers through midday trading after it was reported that Apple will replace Germany's Dialog Semiconductor chips with in-house technology. Apple supplier Cirrus Logic (CRUS), which broke out of a cup base last week, dropped 4%. Leading chip stocks Applied Materials (AMAT) and Micron (MU) fell 2.8%, while Broadcom (AVGO) moved 0.9% lower and tested its 50-day line.
Among other leading stocks, Tesla (TSLA) dropped near 1.4%, but remained extended from a 287.49 cup-base buy point. Netflix (NFLX) fell 0.9%, while Amazon.com (AMZN) traded down 0.8%. The video streaming giant will report its Q1 earnings next Monday after the close.
Among analyst actions, Western Digital (WDC) pared solid gains but still managed to add 1.5% to its March 30 breakout. Shares had been up as much as 3.8% after JPMorgan upgraded the data storage leader to overweight from neutral.
Action within the IBD 50 was predominantly negative in midday trading. On the upside, Nutrisystem (NTRI) and BioTelemetry (BEAT) bucked the market trend, rising 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively, but almost half of the list dropped over 1%.
On the downside, China-based TAL Education (TAL) declined 2.3%, but remains 30% above a 78.26 double-bottom buy point.
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