S&P 500 dips under 5,000, Nasdaq sinks

Live7 updates

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  Fri, April 19, 2024 at 9:37 AM PDT

  The S&P 500 slips under the 5,000 mark

  Stocks moved mostly lower Friday afternoon as Big Tech stocks continued a sell-off that sent the S&P 500 back under the 5,000 mark.

  The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell about 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slid 1.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose about 0.2%.

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  Fri, April 19, 2024 at 9:15 AM PDT

  Fed’s Goolsbee says ‘It makes sense to wait’ before cutting rates

  Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee became the fourth Fed official this week to strike a more hawkish stance on interest rate policy, signaling that the first long-awaited rate cut might still be months away.

  Goolsbee said Friday that “progress on inflation has stalled” and that “it makes sense to wait” before cutting rates, Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger reports.

  The comments were notable because previously, Goolsbee had been one of the more dovish members of the Fed, known for his view that the Fed was on a “golden path” to getting inflation down without high unemployment.

  The most recent wave of greater caution started with Fed Chair Jay Powell, who said Tuesday that it will take “longer than expected” to achieve the confidence needed to get inflation down to the central bank’s 2% target.

  The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March showed inflation was hotter than expected for the third month in a row.

  “You never want to make too much of any one month’s data, especially inflation, which is a noisy series,” Goolsbee said in remarks prepared for a speech before the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s annual conference. “But after three months of this, it can’t be dismissed.”

  “Right now, it makes sense to wait and get more clarity before moving,” he added.

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  Fri, April 19, 2024 at 8:55 AM PDT

  Stocks trending in morning trading

  Here are some of the stocks leading Yahoo Finance’s trending tickers page during morning trading on Friday:

  Super Micro Computer (SMCI): Shares of the server manufacturer slid more than 16% Friday morning after the company announced the date of its third quarter results but didn’t offer a pre-announcement, which investors perceived as a negative signal, Wells Fargo Securities wrote.

  Netflix (NFLX): Shares of the streaming giant fell 7% after the company gave a second quarter revenue forecast that missed estimates and announced it would stop reporting quarterly subscriber metrics closely watched by Wall Street.

  Paramount (PARA): The entertainment company rose 8% Friday morning following a report from the New York Times revealing that Sony Pictures Entertainment (SONY) has entered talks with Apollo Global Management (APO), the parent company of Yahoo Finance, to discuss a possible joint buyout bid of Paramount. According to the report, both companies, through a joint venture, would offer cash for shares of Paramount, taking the company private.

  American Express (AXP): Shares of the financial services company gained almost 5% after releasing first quarter earnings that showed an 11% jump in revenue compared to the same period a year ago and beating Wall Street expectations. The credit card company also boasted that Gen Z and millennial customers accounted for more than 60% of new account acquisitions globally in the quarter.

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  Fri, April 19, 2024 at 7:38 AM PDT

  Apple pulls WhatsApp and Threads from China App Store

  Apple has removed WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China following a government order, citing national security concerns.

  The censorship demands to restrict access to some of the most popular messaging apps marks Beijing’s latest effort to exert control through Apple’s ecosystem. The move, Reuters reports, also signals a growing intolerance of China’s central government toward foreign online messaging services and less leeway given to the iPhone maker to operate there.

  “The Cyberspace Administration of China ordered the removal of these apps from the China storefront based on their national security concerns,” Apple said in a statement.

  China’s Great Firewall blocks access to these apps, but they are still commonly used by Chinese users through virtual private networks that bypass the restrictions. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Beijing has raised concerns that the apps could be used by citizens to spread information that is otherwise censored by the government or to cause social unrest.

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  Fri, April 19, 2024 at 6:37 AM PDT

  Stocks open mostly lower

  The pressure forcing stocks downward mostly did not let up on Friday, as rising geopolitical tensions, disappointing earnings, and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve interest rate cuts weighed on Wall Street

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.2%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell about 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slid 0.3%,

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  Fri, April 19, 2024 at 5:14 AM PDT

  Amex CEO to Yahoo Finance: Our consumers are feeling great

  Inflation may be sticky and damaging many households, but those wealthy households rocking American Express (AXP) cards are still feeling great.

  So great, Amex saw sales rise 11% in the first quarter the company said this morning.

  Here’s what Amex CEO Steve Squeri told me by phone:

  “We have got a premium consumer, and our premium consumers are feeling good about the economy and feeling good about what they want to do. And yes, inflation is still high, but it’s not growing as fast. And the reality is, our consumers are going to spend.”

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  Fri, April 19, 2024 at 3:01 AM PDT

  Here’s the most important point on Netflix

  Netflix (NFLX) shares are getting hit premarket after another big quarter on almost every line item.

  It makes sense; the stock was priced for perfection ahead of the report.

  But cutting through the noise, this point by Pivotal Research’s Jeff Wlodarczak is the most important thing to take away on Netflix at this juncture:

  “Netflix reported another high quality result with an across the board 1Q subscriber beat driven by core US and Euro markets and stronger than expected average revenue per user (successful 4Q price hikes in U.S./U.K./France) implying the ability to generate strong subscriber growth AND take price/expand margins, a powerful combo.”

  With nothing in the report suggesting Netflix’s fundamentals are struggling, you have to wonder if the pullback in the stock will be bought at the open today. One could make the argument that the stock isn’t even that expensive compared to historical trading norms.

  Check out the current valuations on Netflix compared to those seen from 2016 to 2021, when the company was in no way as fundamentally strong as it is today. All data is presented to you, of course, by the Yahoo Finance platform.

  You can analyze more of this data on Netflix by heading to the statistics section on the Netflix ticker page.