Stocks spent the morning in the red after central banks in India, New Zealand and Thailand cut rates, eliciting an angry tweet from the president. President Trump said the Federal Reserve "is too proud to admit their mistake of acting too fast and tightening too much," adding that the U.S. central bank "must Cut Rates bigger and faster, and stop their ridiculous quantitative tightening NOW." The S&P fell by as much as 2%, but bounced from there to get all the way back into the green by the end of the trading day. The Dow was the last of the major averages to make it back into positive territory, though by the close it was in the red again, due in part to the post-earnings drag on the blue chip index from Disney (DIS) shares.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., EIA inventory data showed a 2.4M barrel rise in crude stocks, versus forecast for a 2.5M barrel weekly decrease. Consumer credit rose a less than expected $14.6B in June after a $17.8B increase in May.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Disney slid 4.9% after the company missed expectations for earnings and revenue for the third quarter, and showed increased losses in its streaming segment due to investments in Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu. Despite the company's disappointing quarterly results, both JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley reiterated buy-equivalent ratings on the stock, with JPMorgan analyst Alexia Quadrani calling the selloff a "great" buying opportunity.
CVS Health (CVS) reported better than expected earnings and revenue and raised its full-year profit outlook, sending its shares 7.4% higher. The retail pharmacy operator and pharmacy benefit manager said all of its businesses performed at or above its expectations in Q2. Meanwhile, peer Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) said in a regulatory filing this morning that it plans to close approximately 200 locations in the United States.
J.C. Penney (JCP) shares were 1.2% lower after Bloomberg reported that the retailer's creditors are pushing for talks on a potential debt swap that would give the company's new managers more time to turn things around. Some of the retailer's bondholders are seeking to rework a portion of its $4B of debt well ahead of their maturities in an attempt to avoid the last-minute brinkmanship that contributed to the bankruptcies of Toys "R" Us, Sears Holdings (SHLD) and Barneys New York, according to Bloomberg.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Cambrex (CBM), which rose 47% after announcing that it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of the Permira funds in a transaction valued at approximately $2.4B, including Cambrex's net debt, or $60 per share. Also higher were WW (WW) and TherapeuticsMD (TXMD), which gained a respective 42.6% and 20.9% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Athenex (ATNX), which fell 20.2% after reporting earnings and announcing results from the phase 3 trial of Oraxol in metastatic breast cancer patients. Also lower after reporting quarterly results were Entercom (ETM) and AxoGen (AXGN), which dropped 36% and 29.2%, respectively.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 22.45, or 0.086%, to 26,007.07, the Nasdaq gained 29.56, or 0.38%, to 7,862.83, and the S&P 500 advanced 2.21, or 0.077%, to 2,883.98.
Disney
-7.06 (-4.97%)
CVS Health
+4.05 (+7.49%)
Walgreens Boots Alliance
+0.98 (+1.90%)
JCP
+
SHLD
+
Cambrex
+19.13 (+46.81%)
WW
+8.95 (+42.50%)
TherapeuticsMD
+0.42 (+22.46%)
Athenex
-3.76 (-19.84%)
Changed to AUD
-1.9 (-36.19%)
AxoGen
-5.1 (-29.04%)