US OPEN: Salesforce with the biggest daily drop since 2008

• Wall Street in mixed mood at the start of Thursday's session 
• Salesforce shares lose 17% early in the session 
• Numerous quarterly earnings releases in the background 

Wall Street begins Thursday's trading session in a mixed mood. The Dow Jones index is losing more than 0.8% due to a massive plunge in Salesforce shares. The Nasdaq is currently losing 0.4%, and the S&P500 is down nearly 0.3%. The only index to gain is the Russell 2000, which is currently gaining 0.64%. U.S. yields on 10-year debt securities retreated slightly after the release of U.S. GDP data, which may reduce downward pressure on stock indices in the medium term. 

Current quotations of selected US companies. Source: xStation 

Trading chart of the US2000 index, D1 interval. The benchmark is gaining close to 0.75% at the start of Thursday's US cash session, thus testing the resistance barrier set by the 50-day exponential moving average (blue curve on the chart). Should the upside continue, the key level to watch could be the zone of local peaks near 2,100 points. On the other hand, however, a downward movement could lead to a retest of the 2030 points zone, a local low combined with the 100-day EMA (purple curve on the chart). Source: xStation 

Corporate news

The start of Thursday's session on Wall Street may bring a spike in volatility on a few select companies that reported their quarterly results yesterday at the close or today before the opening of the cash session. Here are from a few selected reports:

Salesforece (CRM.US) Q1; shares losing nearly 17% at the open:

- Adjusted EPS $2.44 (expected $2.38)

- Revenue $9.13 billion (expected $9.15 billion)

- Service revenue $2.18 billion (estimated $2.19 billion)

- The company expects Q2 revenue to be between $9.2 billion and $9.25 billion (estimated $9.35 billion).

- The company expects annual sales to be between $37.7 billion and $38 billion (estimate $38.01 billion).

The decline observed today is one of the largest since 2008. Source: xStation 

The decline seen today is signed as -6.7 sigma (-6.7 standard deviations from the standard range of intraday quotes since 2007). Source: own compilation

HP (HP.US) Q2; shares gain 4.88% at the market open 

- Adjusted EPS $0.82 (expected $0.81)

- Revenue $12.8 billion (expected $12.6 billion)

- Company expects Q3 adjusted EPS of between $0.78 and $0.92 (expected $0.85)

- Assumed annual earnings per share of $3.30-$3.60; expected $3.25-$3.65

Dollar General Corp (DG.US) Q1; shares gain 2% at the market open        

- Adjusted EPS: $1.65 (expected $1.57)

- Revenue: $9.91 billion (expected $9.88 billion)

- Full-year comparable sales to be +2.4% (estimated +2.39%)

- Still expects comparable sales for the year +2% to +2.7% (estimate +2.39%)

Best Buy (BBY.US) Q1; shares gain 7.72% at  the market open 

- Adjusted EPS: $1.20 (expected $1.08)

- Revenue: $8.85 billion ($8.97 billion)

- Corporate comparable sales -6.1% (expected -4.99%)

- Non-GAAP EPS forecast range for FY25 unchanged

- Still expects fiscal year turnover of $41.3 billion to $42.6 billion (estimate $42 billion)

Sell-side moves 

JPMorgan raises target price for Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF.US) shares to $167 from $144, citing strong comparable sales in Q1.

JPMorgan lowers its target price for American Airlines Group (UTHR.US) shares to $21 from $24.

JPMorgan raises its target price for Chewy (CHWY.US) shares to $28 from $22, citing the company's solid Q1 results.

Analysts at Mizuho raised their rating on PayPal (PYPL.US) to “buy” in view of the introduction of the Fastlane tool, which could become a catalyst for the company's shares. 

Okta (OKTA.US) shares are currently gaining 5% after Evercore ISI raised its recommendation on the company's stock to “outperform” after reporting better-than-expected financial results.