Stocks were broadly lower after a number of U.S. officials, including Robert Lighthizer, Steve Mnuchin, Peter Navarro and Larry Kudlow, echoed President Trump's threat that tariffs on Chinese imports are set to rise Friday morning and accused China of "reneging" on its prior commitments. Although Treasury Secretary Mnuchin did express hope for a deferral should progress be achieved this week when a Chinese delegation visits the U.S., investors are bracing for the trade fight to continue and for tariffs to rise. Adding another headwind, the EC lowered its outlook for growth this year and next, citing trade fights and the current slowdown in world GDP growth.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the JOLTS report showed that job openings bounced 346,000 to about 7.49M in March, recouping much of the decline reported in the prior month.
In Europe, German factory orders for March rose 0.6% month-over-month, which was below the 1.4% growth that had been forecast. Meanwhile, the European Commission lowered its outlook for growth this year in the currency bloc to 1.2% from 1.3% and trimmed its 2020 GDP growth forecast to 1.5% from 1.6%, stating that the "risk of protectionist measures worldwide and the current slowdown in world GDP growth and trade could turn out to be more persistent than expected."
TOP NEWS: Anadarko Petroleum (APC) announced that its board of directors has unanimously determined that the revised acquisition proposal from Occidental Petroleum (OXY) constitutes a "superior proposal" and that the company intends to terminate the Chevron (CVX) merger agreement in order to enter into a definitive merger agreement with Occidental. Chevron has the right, during the four business day period ending on May 10, to propose revisions to the terms of its agreement or to make another proposal.
Shares of Mylan (MYL) fell 23.8% after the company reported better than expected first quarter earnings and backed its full-year profit forecast, but also posted worse than expected revenue.
Siemens (SIEGY) shares were 1.2% lower in New York after the company announced that it plans to carve out and spin off its Gas and Power operating company. The German conglomerate said that it expects a public listing of the new company by September 2020 and added that it plans to cut around 2,500 jobs in its corporate units by 2023.
Meanwhile, Google (GOOG) was in focus during its I/O annual event, during which it demonstrated using voice technology to make rental car bookings through Google Assistant, unveiled the Pixel 3A smartphone, and previewed Android Q, the tenth version of its Android operating system for mobile.
Disney (DIS) said that three new untitled "Star Wars" films will start hitting theaters in 2022 and that James Cameron's follow-up to "Avatar" will come out in December 2021, according to media reports.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was AIG (AIG), which rose 6.9% after it reported better than expected adjusted earnings for the first quarter. Also higher after reporting quarterly results were Cohu (COHU) and SolarEdge (SEDG), which gained a respective 24.2% and 22.7%.
Among the notable losers was Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX), which dropped 39.6% after the FDA approved Ruzurgi tablets for the treatment of Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, or LEMS, in patients 6 to less than 17 years of age. Catalyst currently sells the only other treatment approved for LEMS, Firdapse, which is only approved for use in adults. Also lower were Intersect ENT (XENT) and Glu Mobile (GLUU), which fell 24.3% and 18.2%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 473.39, or 1.79%, to 25,965.09, the Nasdaq lost 159.53, or 1.96%, to 7,963.76, and the S&P 500 declined 48.42, or 1.65%, to 2,884.05.
Bought by OXY
+0.32 (+0.42%)
Occidental Petroleum
+1.04 (+1.77%)
Chevron
+0.66 (+0.56%)
Symbol now VTRS
-5.17 (-19.36%)
Alphabet
-5.97 (-0.51%)
Alphabet
-5.68 (-0.48%)
Siemens
+ (+0.00%)
Disney
-1.96 (-1.45%)
AIG
-0.065 (-0.13%)
Cohu
+3.78 (+24.47%)
SolarEdge
+3.29 (+6.51%)
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals
+0.025 (+0.68%)
Intersect ENT
-0.71 (-2.74%)
Glu Mobile
-1.59 (-14.78%)