Markets

Disappointing US economic data weighs on stocks

Bad economic news was bad news for stocks, which slumped to their lows of the day after the ISM Services Index came in at 50.1 in July, while economists had been looking for a reading of 51.5.

Major indexes clawed back some of their losses but still ended mostly in the red, with the S&P 500 off 0.5% and the Nasdaq 100 down 0.7%, while the Russell 2000 bucked the trend with a 0.6% advance.

Most S&P sector ETFs fell on the day, with utilities leading the way down.

Axon shares jumped 16%, leading S&P 500 gains, after the law enforcement equipment maker reported much better-than-expected Q2 earnings and sales after the close Monday. Leading decliners was Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which sank 20% despite posting a second-quarter earnings beat after the company said it would stop development of one of its next-generation pain medicines.

Elsewhere...

Pfizer jumped 5% after the drugmaker reported earnings results that beat Wall Street’s Q2 expectations and raised its full-year outlook.

Shares of Core Scientific were up 3% after a report from the Financial Times saying some of the company’s “top shareholders” are crying foul over the terms of its all-stock takeover by CoreWeave and are planning to vote against the deal. CoreWeave shares were up 5.5%.

Navitas Semiconductor, the tiny chipmaker that went parabolic in late May after earning a spot in Nvidia’s supply chain, tumbled 16% after reporting Q2 results.

Shares of CRISPR Therapeutics slid 6.7% after the Swiss biotech missed Wall Street’s Q2 expectations, despite growing excitement around its flagship gene-editing therapy.

Coinbase shares fell 6.3% after the largest US crypto exchange suffered an outage on Base, its ethereum layer 2 network, and halted operations for 29 minutes due to an “unsafe head delay.”

Yum! Brands shares fell 5% after the KFC and Taco Bell parent reported lower-than-expected Q2 results amid a slowdown in consumer spending at its key US franchises.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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