Wall Street benchmarks were steady, but in negative territory, on Monday as weaker Chinese economic stats and some high profile earnings disappointments put fresh dents in investor sentiments.
The Dow Jones was some 26 points lower this morning at 17, 189 while the S&P 500 was also down at 2,030 though the Nasdaq was slightly higher at 4,902.
Economic growth in China slipped to its slowest pace since the 2008 financial crisis, with quarterly GDP falling beneath the 7% target rate in the three months to the end of September.
It comes after a number of softer economic stats for the US last week, and has been a factor in commodity prices moving lower.
In terms of corporate news, Weight Watchers International (NYSE:WTW) was a standout stock as it soared some 90% following the news that Oprah Winfrey had bought a 10% stake in the company.
Winfrey, the media mogul and entrepreneur, is buying around 6.4 million shares at US $6.79 per share, for a total investment of US$43mln.
Drug maker Valeant (NYSE:VRX) shares eased off about 6% even though raised its full-year outlook while reporting a better-than-estimated profit in the third quarter.
The force was strong in toy maker Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) in the third quarter, leading to results that were above expectations.
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) fell 2% after revealing third quarter results which have missed market expectations. The company this morning told investors it had made a loss as activity in the sector slowed amid weak oil prices, and at the same time it made write downs on asset values.
Also disappointing was Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) which blamed “volatility in global markets” and “a difficult environment” for it missing market expectations for the third quarter.
Morgan Stanley reported third quarter earnings of 42 cents per share, which was some 20 cents shy of expectations and was down from 65 cents in the comparative three months of 2014. Revenue amounted to US$7.33bn for the quarter.
Later, after the trading day, results are expected from IBM (NYSE:IBM) and theme-park group Six Flags (NYSE:SIX).
Aside from quarterly earnings, mergers and acquisition provided the narrative.
Microchip maker PMC-Sierra (NASDAQ:PMCS) advanced as Microsemi Corp (NASDAQ:MSCC) outbid Skyworks Solutions (NASDAQ:SWKS) with a US$2.2bn takeover offer. Microsemi’s attempt to gazump Skyworks is pitched at US$11.50 per share.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) rose in morning trades after China loosened some restrictions on the disk-drive maker’s acquisition of its competitor Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. Shares rose 1.8% to $80.93 at 9:44 a.m. in New York, paring this year’s loss to 27%.
Canadian Oil Sands (TSE:COS) directors have recommended shareholders reject the hostile takeover bid from Suncor (NYSE:SU, TSE:SU), claiming the offer is too low.
The Suncor offer, pitched at $4.5bn, substantially undervalues the company according to the board of COS which has now unanimously rejected the offer.