Stocks held up pretty well in afternoon trading Thursday even as some earnings reports in the financial sector failed to impress. Wall Street also grappled with news of another U.S. military strike — this time at an ISIS target in Afghanistan.
The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 showed losses of around 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%. Small caps lagged, with the Russell 2000 down 0.6%. Volume on the NYSE and Nasdaq was tracking close to Wednesday's levels.
Dow component Apple (AAPL) was unfazed by a couple of compelling early headlines. First, a CNBC report said the company is working on technology for the Apple Watch that will be able to monitor blood sugar levels. Meanwhile, an analyst report said an Apple/Disney (DIS) merger makes sense on many fronts.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) reversed lower in the Dow, falling 0.5%, after an early 1.9% gain. Q1 earnings topped expectations and revenue growth accelerated nicely from Q4, rising 9% to $27.65 billion, but a big drop in the 10-year Treasury yield from around 2.60% to 2.25% is weighing on financials. Citigroup (C)and Wells Fargo (WFC) also showed poor action on earnings, falling 2% and 0.6%, respectively.
In the stock market today, Tesla (TSLA) outperformed, rising more than 3%, after CEO Elon Musk said the company is planning to reveal a semi truck in September. A pickup truck is also in the works with a timeline of 18 to 24 months.
Meanwhile, strong preliminary Q1 results from Applied Microelectronics (AAOI) helped the stock gap above its 50-day moving average as shares soared 12%. But the stock was near its intraday low in late trading. Another fast grower in the group, Lumentum (LITE) pared a 4% intraday gain to less than 1%.
The IPO market had another winner on its hands Thursday with the Debut of Yext (YEXT). Shares priced last night at 11, above the proposed range of 8-10. Shares opened at 14 and were recently trading around 13.75. Yext's strong showing gives it "unicorn" status as its market capitalization is now above $1 billion.
Inside the IBD 50, Veeva Systems (VEEV) continues to show good technical action, trading tightly as it holds above the 50 level.
The stock market will be closed Friday in observance of Good Friday.
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