US stocks extended losses at midsession on Tuesday and the S&P 500 index was at a three-week low after oil prices continued to slide and UK “Brexit” sentiment prevailed.
The influential British tabloid newspaper “The Sun” backed Brexit from the European Union. The biggest circulation daily has often accurately estimated which way polls go, including predicting Margaret Thatcher’s 1983, and 1987 electoral victories, backing John Major in 1992 and Tony Blair to win in 1997, and backing David Cameron at the 2015 election.
The S&P 500 was down 0.5% at 2,068, led by Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF), down 14% at $26.14 after the company revealed that loan losses as a percent of loan receivables is likely to increase 20-30 bps this quarter from the first quarter.
The S&P Midcap 400 was down 0.6% at 1,473 and led by John Wiley Sons (NYSE:JW.A), down 6.2% at $48.63.
The S&P Smallcap 600 was down 0.5% at 700 and led by Lendingtree Inc (NASDAQ:TREE), down 9.7% at $73.52.
The price of oil as measured by US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 1% at $48.38.
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Stocks have opened on the back foot, but received a small lift from retail sales figures for May, which were stronger than expected.
Retail sales rose 0.5%, versus expectations of a rise of 0.3%, with the automobile and gasoline components accounting for much of the increase.
“Two areas stood out on the soft side,” noted Daiwa Capital Markets.
“Sales at general merchandise stores fell 0.3% in May, marking the third decline in the past five months and leaving activity below levels seen in the latter portion of last year. Activity at building supply stores fell 1.8%, the third consecutive decline. This area has cooled over the past several months after a surge in the latter part of last year,” Daiwa said.
The S&P 500 was down nine points, or 0.4%, at 2,071.
The S&P 400, which measures the performance of mid-caps, was also down nine points, at 1,474, while the Russell 2,000 index, which tracks the small caps, was down 5.5 points at 1,145.
Drinks company Leading Brands Inc (NASDAQ:LBIX) was one of the top risers on Nasdaq, frothing 55% higher to US$2.32, as it swung into the black in its fiscal first quarter.
Net income was C$0.10 per share, compared to a loss per share of C$0.15 the year before.
Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:INFI) lost more than two thirds of its market value as the DYNAMO study of its investigative drug duvelisib met its primary end-point, but did not pass the test with flying colours.
"While the DYNAMO study met its primary endpoint, we hoped that treatment with duvelisib as a monotherapy would have provided a larger clinical benefit for patients with advanced indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a difficult-to-treat disease," stated Adelene Perkins, president and chief executive officer at Infinity.
"We plan to seek feedback from the US. Food and Drug Administration to determine our next steps with respect to duvelisib in indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma," Perkins said.