Stocks suffered their biggest rout since June as Apple (AAPL), Tesla (TSLA) and Amazon (AMZN) each fell by at least 4.6%. The Nasdaq 100 index, which had advanced in 11 of the last 13 sessions and closed at record levels nearly daily over the last several weeks, was today's underperformer amid the selloff in tech, although the S&P and Dow also saw sizable declines.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims dropped 130,000 to 881,000 in the week ended August 29. The trade deficit widened by much more than expected to a 12-year high of $63.6B in July from $53.5B in June. Markit's services PMI rose to 55.0 in the final read for August, up from the 54.8 preliminary reading. The ISM services index fell 1.2 points to 56.9 in August, which was fractionally below expectations. The estimate of Q2 productivity was revised higher to a 10.1% pace of growth versus 7.3% in the preliminary report.
TOP NEWS: Facebook (FB) shares slipped 3.8% after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will be taking additional steps to "help secure the integrity of the U.S. elections." As part of these steps, the social media giant will not accept new political advertisements in the week before the U.S. presidential election in November.
Shares of Tesla declined 9%, compounding yesterday's losses after U.K. fund manager Baillie Gifford disclosed in a regulatory filing yesterday morning that it has reduced its stake in the electric carmaker to 4.25%. Meanwhile, QuantumScape (QS), the battery supplier for electric vehicles backed by Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates and Volkswagen (VWAGY), has announced that it plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The deal mirrors that of Nikola (NKLA), which went public in June through a reverse merger with VectoIQ, and that of Lordstown Motors, which will merge with DiamondPeak Holdings (DPHC), another SPAC.
Apple shares fell 8% as The Information reported that the company has told some developers that it plans to delay the enforcement of a "controversial" change in iOS 14, the next version of its mobile operating system, that "would upend how ads are targeted on iPhones and iPads."
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) was in focus after the company said that its Janssen unit's lead SARS-CV-2 investigational vaccine candidate prevented severe clinical disease in Syrian golden hamsters, upon challenge with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in people.
Additionally, shares of Navistar (NAV) jumped 5.6% after Bloomberg reported that Volkswagen's truck unit intends to resume talks to acquire Navistar after negotiations were discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Fulgent Genetics (FLGT), which rose 11.6% after the company and New York City Health and Hospitals announced they will provide COVID-19 testing to hundreds of thousands of students across approximately 1,600 locations as they return to school in September and over the next several months. Also higher was PVH Corp. (PVH), which gained 3.3% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Akebia (AKBA), which plunged 73.5% after vadadustat did not meet the primary safety endpoint of the PRO2TECT program, defined as non-inferiority of vadadustat versus darbepoetin alfa in time to first occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events. Also lower were Zuora (ZUO), Ciena (CIEN), and Campbell Soup (CPB), which fell 30.6%, 24.4%, and 7.5%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 807.77, or 2.78%, to 28,292.73, the Nasdaq lost 598.34, or 4.96%, to 11,458.10, and the S&P 500 declined 125.78, or 3.51%, to 3,455.06.
Ticker changed to META
-11.27 (-3.72%)
Tesla
-40.62 (-9.07%)
QuantumScape
+ (+0.00%)
Microsoft
-14.38 (-6.21%)
Volkswagen
+ (+0.00%)
Nikola
-3.32 (-8.41%)
DiamondPeak Holdings
-0.36 (-1.99%)
Apple
-10.48 (-7.97%)
Johnson & Johnson
-4.5 (-2.92%)
Navistar
+1.78 (+5.31%)
Fulgent Genetics
+3.28 (+11.37%)
PVH Corp.
+1.97 (+3.31%)
Akebia
-7.365 (-73.58%)
Zuora
-4.98 (-30.72%)
Ciena
-14.62 (-24.33%)
Campbell Soup
-3.88 (-7.40%)