Stocks End Week Lower As Tech Melts Down Despite Strong Alphabet Report
Stocks ended the week lower, with the Nasdaq index the clear laggard, as a number of well-known tech stocks felt the brunt of the market pullback. The week was bookended by a strong report Monday night from Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), which still ended the week lower despite its better than expected earnings, and weak guidance Thursday evening from social media name LinkedIn (LNKD), which was severely punished by investors and analysts alike in the wake of its outlook.
MACRO NEWS: In the U.S., nonfarm payrolls rose 151,000 in January, versus expectations for an increase of 190,000. The unemployment rate fell to 4.9%, versus expectations for it to stay at 5.0%. Average hourly earnings climbed 0.5% month-over-month, versus the consensus forecast for them to rise 0.3%. The trade deficit widened 2.7% to $43.4B in December, as exports dipped 0.3% and imports rose 0.3%. Markit's manufacturing purchasing managers index for January dipped to 52.4 in the final January reading, down from the 52.7 flash reading and below the 52.6 reading that was expected. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for January came in at 48.2, below the 48.4 that analysts expected. Markit's services PMI came in at 53.2, versus the consensus 53.7 forecast. The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index came in at 53.5 for January, down from 55.3 in the previous month and below the 55.1 reading forecast by analysts. The Labor Department said that productivity fell at an annual rate of 3% in the fourth quarter, marking the biggest quarterly decline in nearly two years and worse than the expected decline of 2%. Labor costs rose 4.5% in the fourth quarter, versus expectations for an increase of 4.3%... In Asia, China's National Development and Reform Commission set its economic growth projection range for this year at 6.5%-7%, noting that attempts to curb overcapacity will increase unemployment in provinces with high output of steel and coal. The Chinese government's official manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 49.4 in January from 49.7 in December. The private Caixin manufacturing PMI edged up to 48.4 from 48.2 in the prior reading, but both figures still remain in contraction territory. The Caixin services PMI for China climbed to 52.4 in January from 50.2 in December, while Japan's services PMI rose to 52.4 from 51.5 in the prior month... In Europe, Markit's manufacturing PMI for the euro zone dropped to 52.3 from December's 53.2, in-line with the earlier flash estimate. The European Commission lowered its 2016 economic growth forecast for the 19-nation single currency area to 1.7% from the 1.8% expansion the commission had forecast in November. The Bank of England also cut its economic growth forecasts, saying it now expects Britain's economy to grow 2.2% this year and 2.3% next year, which is down from the 2.5% growth for 2016 and 2.6% in 2017 that it previously predicted. Additionally, the BoE maintained its bank rate and held the size of its asset purchase program steady.
COMPANY NEWS: After the closing bell Monday, Alphabet reported better than expected quarterly earnings and revenue, along with breaking the results of its core Google businesses out from its "Other Bets" for the first time. The report was followed by analysts around Wall Street hiking their price targets on the stock, with Deutsche Bank notably raising its target to $1,080 per share, but the company's Class A shares only gained a bit more than 1% on Tuesday and finished the week down by nearly 8%... Shares of Yahoo (YHOO) declined nearly 5% on Wednesday after the embattled Internet company reported fourth quarter results and announced plans to simplify its product portfolio and reduce its workforce by roughly 15%. Maynard Webb, Yahoo's chairman, said the board is committed to its turnaround efforts and supportive of management's plan, but also believes that exploring additional strategic alternatives is in the best interest of its shareholders, but the assurance that the company will listen to offers from potential suitors did little to help its stock performance this week... GoPro (GPRO) shares sunk to all-time lows on Thursday after the action camera maker reported fourth quarter revenue that fell $60M short of expectations and guided first quarter revenue even further below analyst forecasts... LinkedIn (LNKD) plunged over 40% on Friday after the professional network reported stronger than expected fourth quarter results, but its 2016 guidance came in significantly below expectations. At least nine Wall Street research firms responded to the guidance miss by downgrading the stock. "Big Data" software provider Tableau (DATA) similarly issued full-year guidance significantly below expectations and also fell sharply, tumbling nearly 50%... In addition to tech companies, it was a big week for earnings reports from names in the oil space. Exxon Mobil (XOM) posted better than expected revenue and profits in the fourth quarter, but its shares slid 2% on Tuesday after the report. Fellow oil major BP (BP) plunged more than 8% the same day after reporting a steep quarterly loss, largely due to $2.6B in charges related to impairments of Upstream assets as well as restructuring. ConocoPhillips (COP) declined nearly 9% on Thursday after the oil and gas explorer reported a worse than expected quarterly loss and slashed its dividend to 25c from 74c per share. CEO Ryan Lance said the decision to reduce the dividend was a "difficult one," but the company believes it is prudent to plan for lower commodity prices for a longer period of time... Among the many others reporting earnings this week, Dow Chemical (DOW), Comcast (CMCSA), Michael Kors (KORS), Mattel (MAT), Sysco (SYY), and Aetna (AET) gained immediately following their reports, while Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), General Motors (GM), Mondelez (MDLZ), Match Group (MTCH), Cardinal Health (CAH), ADT (ADT), Royal Caribbean (RCL), Ralph Lauren (RL) and Kohl's (KSS) all slid following their own... On the M&A front, Syngenta (SYT) agreed to a $43B-plus takeover offer from ChemChina. Alere (ALR) surged after Abbott (ABT) agreed to acquire the company for $56 per share at a total expected equity value of $5.8B. Questar (STR) jumped on Monday as well after Dominion Resources (D) agreed to acquire it for $25 per share, or about $4.4B. Lowe's (LOW) fell 6% on Wednesday after agreeing to acquire Canada's RONA in a deal valued at $2.3B... Sumner Redstone stepped down as executive chairman of both CBS (CBS) and Viacom (VIA, VIAB), being replaced by the CEOs of the companies in both cases. CBS shares were up fractionally Thursday after Leslie Moonves was named the next chair of its board, while Class A shares of Viacom gained 2% after Philippe Dauman was selected to succeed Redstone... Like Chipotle has been in the past months, Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) shares were punished by food safety worries after one of its restaurants was named a suspected source of new norovirus-like cases in suburban Kansas City, though the company disputed a link between its location and the illnesses. Late in the week, the Department of Health of Johnson County, Kansas, confirmed one case of norovirus associated with an area Buffalo Wild Wings location, according to Bloomberg.
INDEXES: For the week, the Dow fell 1.6% to 16,204.83, the Nasdaq lost 5.4% to 4,363.14, and the S&P 500 declined 3.1% to 1,880.02.
Disclosure: None.