Equity futures were weaker in pre-market trading as caution and mild profit taking came into play following the record peaks hit on Wall Street this week. However, the major averages recovered much of their losses throughout the day and the Nasdaq was able to cross back into the green for the day while all three of the top indexes notched gains on a weekly basis. The Dow was the day's underperformer, weighed down by a big post-earnings slide in shares of IBM (IBM). After the pullbacks in Big Blue and Intel (INTC) on the heels of their reports, a busy slate of tech earnings is upcoming next week with high profile reports due from Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB) and Tesla (TSLA).
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., Markit's preliminary manufacturing PMI jumped 2 points to a new record high of 59.1 in January. Existing home sales beat estimates with a 0.7% rise to a 6.76M unit pace in December. In energy news, Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is up 5 from last week to 378 with oil rigs up 2 to 289.
TOP NEWS: IBM shares declined almost 10% after the company reported lower than expected revenue for the fourth quarter, even though Q4 adjusted earnings beat consensus estimates. The company reported a year-over-year revenue decline in all of its categories, with Systems revenue in particular falling 17.8% from the same period last year. Looking ahead, IBM said it expects to grow revenue for fiscal 2021 based on current foreign exchange rates.
Shares of Intel (INTC) also fell over 9% despite the company reporting better than expected earnings and revenue for Q4. The company also provided upbeat guidance for the upcoming quarter and announced a 5% increase to its quarterly cash dividend. Comments from incoming CEO Pat Gelsinger about the company's commitment to manufacture the majority of its products through 2023 appear to be disappointing some on the Street.
In other earnings news, Seagate (STX) shares slid 5.7% despite the company reporting better than expected second quarter results and providing upbeat third quarter guidance. Following the report, multiple analysts raised their price targets on the shares, with Craig-Hallum's Christian Schwab saying that Seagate is seeing stable pricing and has multi-quarter visibility into continued strong cloud demand and an improving enterprise environment.
In other news, Ford (F) disclosed in a regulatory filing last night that it will be conducting a field service action to replace Takata airbag inflators in certain model year 2006 through 2012 vehicles, including Ford Ranger, Fusion, Edge, Lincoln MKZ/Zephyr, MKX , and Mercury Milan vehicles in a move that will cost roughly $610M.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Walmart (WMT) intends to offer COVID-19 vaccinations in seven additional states, as well as in Chicago and Puerto Rico, this week and next.
Additionally, The Wall Street Journal reported that Comcast's (CMCSA) NBCUniversal intends to shut down sports cable channel NBCSN at the end of the year and move much of its programming to its sister network USA.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was GameStop (GME), which surged 51%, resuming its incredible recent rally, after noted short-seller Andrew Left said he will no longer comment on the stock after an "angry mob" committed "multiple crimes." Also lower was Ally Financial (ALLY), which gained 1.7% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Passage Bio (PASG), which declined 13.2% after its 7M share secondary offering priced at $22.00. Also lower was PPG (PPG), which fell 4% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 179.03, or 0.57%, to 30,996.98, the Nasdaq gained 12.15, or 0.09%, to 13,543.06, and the S&P 500 declined 11.60, or 0.30%, to 3,841.47.
IBM
-13.22 (-10.03%)
Intel
-5.81 (-9.30%)
Seagate
-2.99 (-4.75%)
Ford
-0.005 (-0.04%)
Walmart
+1.4 (+0.97%)
Comcast
-0.49 (-1.00%)
Comcast
+ (+0.00%)
GameStop
+21.82 (+50.77%)
Ally Financial
+0.72 (+1.80%)
Passage Bio
-2.83 (-12.39%)
PPG
-6.125 (-4.26%)