The mood in the market has notably soured since yesterday afternoon, when President Trump dropped his bombshell tweet threatening additional tariffs on China. The selloff that began in the wake of the tweet has gained momentum, pushing the S&P down another 1% near noon. Trade worries have trumped all other news for the time being, including this morning's generally in-line jobs report.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., nonfarm payrolls increased 164,000 in July, which was roughly in-line with Bloomberg's consensus forecast, and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%. Average hourly earnings were up 0.3% month-over-month and up 3.2% year-over-year, both of which were slightly better thn expected. The trade deficit narrowed 0.3% to $55.2B in June. Factory orders bounced 0.6% in June, which was a little below the consensus forecast. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index edged up to 98.4 in the final reading for July, which was the same as the preliminary reading.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are each down about 1% after the two energy superpowers posted their quarterly reports. Exxon posted better than expected revenue and profit in the second quarter, stating that average crude prices were stronger than Q1 in its Upstream business. Chevron reported mixed results, with earnings that topped expectations and revenues that were below consensus.
Shares of Square (SQ) are down 15% following the company's quarterly results and the announcement that it will sell Caviar to DoorDash. While Square reported "solid" Q2 results, its Q3 targets missed expectations due to heightened marketing in the seller ecosystem ahead of the holiday season, Jefferies analyst John Hecht noted.
Pinterest (PINS) is up 23% after its Q2 "beat and raise" report, which gained the stock a new bull. Deutsche Bank analyst Lloyd Walmsley upgraded the social media stock to Buy from Hold and raised his price target for the shares to $40 from $26 following last night's Q2 results on more confidence that the company can scale its ad business, in the U.S. and internationally, faster than expected. Walmsley sees "significant upside potential" to estimates and the stock, he added.
In M&A news, Campbell Soup (CPB) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement for the sale of Arnott's and certain of Campbell's International operations to KKR (KKR) for $2.2B in cash. Combined with the previously disclosed sale of Kelsen Group, Campbell has announced the sale of its entire Campbell International division for an aggregate price of $2.5B, the company noted.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Cloudera (CLDR), which rose 4% after Carl Icahn disclosed a 12.62% stake in the company. Also higher were Aphria (APHA) and Fortinet (FTNT), which gained a respective 37% and 10% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was NetApp (NTAP), which dropped 22% after it reported downbeat preliminary Q1 results and lowered its fiscal 2020 revenue outlook. Also lower were Glu Mobile (GLUU) and Chemours (CC), which fell 41% and 18%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 224.45, or 0.84%, to 26,358.97, the Nasdaq was down 124.75, or 1.54%, to 7,986.38, and the S&P 500 was down 27.99, or 0.95%, to 2,925.57.
