Dow Jones shed 0.34%
Procter & Gamble falls on earnings report
Shares of Apple fell 2.%
U.S. stocks rebounded from a steep selloff in the last hour of trading on Thursday after Bloomberg News reported that President Donald Trump is not a target in the high-profile Mueller probe.
According to Bloomberg, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told President Trump that Special Counsel Robert Mueller isn't targeting him when the two met last week.
The Dow Jones shed 0.34% to 24,664.89 points
The S&P 500 lost 0.57% to 2,693.13 points
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.78% to 7,238.06
Up in Toronto, the TSX lost 0.49% to 15,453.82 points
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) said Thursday it expects second-quarter revenue to range between US$7.8 bln and $7.9 bln, well below a Wall Street consensus estimate of $8.8 bln.
Taiwan Semiconductor’s ADR fell 5.7% to US$39.53.
The announcement weighed on the entire technology sector. Shares of Apple fell 2.8%, while Nvidia, Micron and Advanced Micro Devices all declined at least 2.4%.
Afternoon Trading:
The downward spiral of US stocks gathered momentum across the board in afternoon trade amid disappointing corporate earnings and a drop-off in technology stocks in particular.
The Dow Jones shed 143 points at 24,605
The S&P 500 lost 22.8 points at 2,686
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 69 points at 7,226
Up in Toronto, the TSX lost 53 points at 15,47
Leading the list of decliners was Philip Morris (NYSE: PM), the cigarette maker, which saw its shares plunge by 16.6% after the group missed estimates on quarterly earnings and said it was struggling to attract new smokers.
Align Technology (NASDAQ:ALGN) also shed 8 % after Morgan Stanley downgraded its stock to equal weight due to worries over its growth and valuation.
A warning from Taiwan Semiconductor (2330.TW) the biggest contract chipmaker which supplies Apple, about weakening demand for smart phones, sent its shares down 6.25% and dragged down the chip and smart phone sector as well.
On the back of the warning, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) lost 2.5% at US$173.42 while Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 3.25% to US$51.90.
Shares in Procter & Gamble also fell 4.26% to US$74.96 after showing signs of squeezed margins as part of its third-quarter fiscal earnings.
Elsewhere, the yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds jumped by 4 basis points to 2.92%, which is its highest level in almost two months.
The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude, meanwhile, inched up 0.8% to US$68.99, which was its highest price in over three years, according to Bloomberg data. Gold dropped off by 0.3% to US$1,345,65 per ounce.
Early Trading:
Wall Street shares started on the back-foot Thursday.
The Dow Jones lost over 21 points at 24,727.
The S&P 500 shed eight points at 2,700.
The Nasdaq shed over 20 points at 7,274.
In Toronto, the TSX shed over 18 points at 15,511.
Among the top risers on the Dow Jones was American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which added 5.99% to US$100.83.
It came after the group reported a 31% increase in first-quarter profit, driven by a pickup in card holder spending and borrowing.