Apr 24, 2018

Stocks take a beating, Dow loses 425 points

Dan Primack

The Dow on Tuesday fell 425 points (1.73%) and the Nasdaq was off 121 points (1.7%). But it could have been worse, as the Dow at one point was down more than 600.

Expand chart
Data: Money.net; Chart: Axios Visuals

Three primary drivers for the tumble:

  • 10-year Treasury yields hit 3% for the first time since 2014, which could cause some investors to take money out of stocks and put it into bonds.
  • Big tech carnage driven by Wall Street analysts lowering Google profit estimates. The so-called FANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google) were each down and lost a combined $84 billion in market value.
  • Caterpillar CFO Bradley Halverson told analysts that Q1 would be "the high watermark for the year." Caterpillar easily beat quarterly earnings estimates, but still finished down more than 6%.

Go deeper

Dion Rabouin

S&P earnings expected to grow in Q4 for the first time since 2018

Reproduced from FactSet; Chart: Axios Visuals

Given the way S&P 500 earnings have beaten estimates over the past few years it is likely the index will report earnings growth in the fourth quarter — the first and only quarter of growth last year.

Between the lines: John Butters, FactSet's senior earnings analyst, said in a note that on average nearly three-quarters of S&P 500 companies' actual earnings have exceeded estimates by about 5%.

Go deeperArrowJan 6, 2020
Courtenay Brown

The stock market's quiet end to 2019

Data: Money.net; Chart: Axios Visuals

The S&P 500 rose half a percent on Thursday to top the 3,200 level for the first time.

The big picture: A year that saw equity prices whipsawed by trade war uncertainty and recession fears is ending (so far) on a relatively quiet note.

Go deeperArrowDec 20, 2019
Dion Rabouin

Middle East tensions could spark a big year for defense stocks

Data: Money.net; Chart: Axios Visuals

Defense sector stocks have predictably seen major buying since the killing of Iran Gen. Qasem Soleimani, in particular Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

Why it matters: The gains may not be temporary, analysts say.

Go deeperArrowJan 8, 2020