US stocks bobbled up for air but spent most of the session below the water line, and closed lower on Thursday as telecom and energy stocks led declines after mixed Verizon (NYSE:VZ) earnings and depressed oil prices.
Even a spike before the closing bell by Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) on reports the media conglomerate has held talks with AT&T (NYSE:T) over various business strategies – including a possible merger - failed to make any inroad into the market’s intraday deficit.
Time Warner stock briefly shot up 9% to hit a 14-month high of $86.75 in late afternoon trading, before paring those gains to $82.99, up 4.7%. AT&T ended down 1.9% at $38.65.
The S&P 500 market bellwether closed 0.1% lower at 2141. The constituent Telecoms sector shed 2% while Energy was down nearly 1%.
Even upbeat manufacturing sector data from the US mid-Atlantic region and a rebound in existing home sales in September failed to lift the market.
Online marketplace eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) was the top decliner of 10.8% to $29.02 after poor earnings released after the bell on Wednesday.
Other decliners included Verizon, down 2.5% to $49.14 and Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) down 2.2% to $199.10 after investors were unfazed by the company’s self-drive cars announcement overnight.
The S&P Midcap 400 lost 0.4% to 1527 and led from the start of the session by Dst Systems (NYSE:DST) down 12.6% to $98.62.
The S&P Smallcap 600 lost the most, down 0.6% to 735 and led by First Nbc Bank (NASDAQ:FNBC) down 19.2% to $9.05. It was a small price to pay, all told, for the regional bank which on Thursday announced the receipt of a 15-day stay of suspension from trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market. The admin all followed on from a Staff Delisting Determination, which resulted from First NBC's past due SEC reports.
Early trading
US stocks opened lower on Thursday after Tesla Motor’s announcement took the wind out of a market surrounded by mixed earnings figures from household names.
The S&P 500 market bellwether was down 0.3% at 2137 and led by Ebay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) down 10.2% at $29.20 after depressing earnings.
Conversely, American Express (NYSE:AXP), which earlier recorded bumper earnings, was the top gainer on the S&P 500, up 9% to $66.77.
The S&P Midcap 400 was down 0.3% at 1529 and led by Dst Systems (NYSE:DST) down 10.7% to $101.06 after the computer sodftware company released its third quarter earnings.
Smaller stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off, with the S&P Smallcap 600 down 0.5% to 736 and led by Dxp Enterprise (NASDAQ:DXPE) down 15.4% to $24.45.
But shares of Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) sank by 2.2% to $199.18 as investors reacted to the automaker's self-driving car announcement overnight.
Tesla on Wednesday unveiled new technology that will make its cars fully self-driving. Tesla expects that by the end of 2017, these cars should be able to drive from New York City to Los Angeles without the driver having to do anything.
Tesla chairman Elon Musk had tweeted earlier in the week and investors bought into a significant announcement story. It was significant but much of the concept of self-drive has been priced into the car industry already.
Pre-Open
The US S&P 500 is indicated opening softer on Thursday after big gun stocks reported an array of earnings results overnight.
The S&P 500 market bellwether was likely to fall by around 0.2%. Perhaps the most-anticipated corporate release turned into a damp squib.
Shares of Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) look set to dip when markets open as investors react to the automaker's self-driving car announcement.
Tesla on Wednesday unveiled new technology that will make its cars fully self-driving. Tesla expects that by the end of 2017, these cars should be able to drive from New York City to Los Angeles without the driver having to do anything.
Tesla shares traded down 1.1% at $201.25 pre-market.
Meanwhile, American Express (NYSE:AXP) shares are shooting up and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) shares are tumbling by about pre-market as investors react to new earnings released after the bell on Wednesday.
Amex shares were up 6.4% at $65.16 while eBay shares were down a harsh 8.8% at $29.65.
After bullish numbers from Yahoo that ought to shut up its new buyer over the price, buyer Verizon (NYSE:VZ) reported the largest US telecoms group by customers, posted mixed quarterly results, sending the shares falling in pre-market trading.
The company logged adjusted earnings of $1.01 per share, 2 cents ahead of the typical analyst forecast, on revenues that were $31bn, around $140m shy of expectations.
Verizon shares were last seen down 2% at $49.35.
Last month, Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) was targeted by a hacker and made Verizon consider lowering its bid. Although no one is pointing the finger at Verizon, the hack certainly came at a very convenient time in the bidding process.
Drugstore chain operator Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) on Thursday posted fourth-quarter profits that beat analysts’ estimates as it pushed back slightly the target closing date for its planned $9.4bn takeover of smaller US rival Rite Aid until early next year.
Walgreens shares up 1.7% to $78.50.
American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) said on Thursday that a weak global economy, strong dollar and competition weighed on its sales, although its quarterly results still exceeded Wall Street estimates.
The Texas-based airline said that its revenues fell 1.1% in the third quarter from the same period in 2015 to $10.59bn, beating the $10.53bn that analysts anticipated.
American shares were down 1.1% at $40.18.
The final of three live televised debates between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton overnight appeared to seal the fate of the campaign after some of the ugliest exchanges of their meets so far.
Although there are 20 more days to go already investors are starting to weigh up whether the on-the-fence Federal Reserve will hike rates in December once the election is out of the way.
Fuelling that rate debate, the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits was reported rising to the highest level in five weeks but still remained close to the recent 43-year lows.
In a dramatic sequence of events, Trump refused to pledge that he would accept the US election result if he loses, during a fiery debate in which Clinton called her Republican opponent a “puppet” of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Looking further out, PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), E*Trade (NASDAQ:ETFC) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) plan to release earnings after the close on Thursday.