Stocks started deep in negative territory in part due to poor guidance from tech giants Nvidia (NVDA) and Applied Materials (AMAT). The lowered guidance lent support to the belief the bull market run could be showing signs of ending. The market saw its lows shortly after the open and by the end of the morning the Dow had swung several hundred points, keeping up the volatility that has been its trademark over the past two months. The volatility continued after President Trump commented that the U.S. and China were talking trade and suggested things were improving to the point where the U.S. was considering not implementing the latest round of tariffs. While the White House cautioned not to read too much into the comments, the dose of trade optimism supported the averages into the close.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., industrial production rose 0.1% in October, while capacity use was 78.4%. In White House news, President Donald Trump said in taped comments that China "wants to make a deal" on trade. White House officials later told CNBC, however, that people should not read too much into those claims since there is no sign of a deal coming soon. In energy news, Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is up 1 from last week to 1,082 rigs.
COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Nvidia fell about 19% after the company's January quarter guidance was much weaker than expected.
Adding more pressure to the semiconductor space was the fact that Applied Materials' own fiscal first quarter guidance came in below expectations, though its shares finished the day about 1% higher.
Shares of Sonos (SONO) rose 9% after the speaker maker reported better than expected revenues and losses that were not as steep as the consensus forecast in its fiscal fourth quarter.
In non-earnings news, Google Cloud (GOOG) CEO Diane Green confirmed in a blog post that she will be replaced by Thomas Kurian, a former Oracle (ORCL) executive. Green said she will continued as CEO of the unit through January and will remain a director on the Alphabet board.
Meanwhile, Pfizer (PFE) was in focus after The Wall Street Journal reported that the drugmaker plans to increase list prices of 41 of its prescription drugs, ending a pause in price hikes that had been requested by the President.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was PG&E (PCG), which surged 37.5% after Bloomberg reported that a California Public Utilities Commission official told investors on a conference call that the CPUC does not want the company to go into bankruptcy. Also higher was Tesaro (TSRO), which gained 31.5% after Bloomberg said the cancer drug maker is working with advisors to explore a possible sale after receiving takeover interest.
Among the notable losers was Acadia (ACHC), which slid 14% after CNBC's David Faber reported that the company's sale process has been stalled and does "not look particularly promising." Also lower were Nordstrom (JWN) and Williams-Sonoma (WSM), which fell a respective 14% and 11% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: The Dow rose 123.95, or 0.49%, to 25,413.22 , the Nasdaq slipped 11.16, or 0.15%, to 7,247.87 , and the S&P 500 advanced 6.07, or 0.22%, to 2,736.27 .
