- Wall Street in mixed mood at start of Thursday's cash session
- Piper Sandler cuts recommendation on Apple stock
- Walgreens reports higher-than-expected EPS results
Indices on Wall Street began today's session in mixed sentiment. The Nasdaq technology index is currently losing 0.32%, while the Russell 2000 index is gaining 0.14%. Investors' attention will be drawn primarily to macro readings today, with US ADP/Challenger data (a hint ahead of tomorrow's NFP) and unemployment benefits and PMI data for December for the services sector.
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The US2000 index continues its declines and is currently trading near the support zone defined by the 38.2% Fibo retracement of the downward wave initiated in late 2021. The most important resistance level now remains the zone of local peaks near the 2015 highs.
News from companies
Walgreens (WBA.US) is up as much as 4.7% after the pharmacy chain reported adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter that topped analysts' average estimates. The company nearly halved its quarterly dividend, cutting it to 25 cents per share from 48 cents.
- Adjusted EPS: $0.66 (estimate $0.62)
- Revenue: $36.71 billion (estimate $35.04 billion)
- Reduces quarterly dividend by 48% to $0.25/share
Apple (AAPL.US) shares remain under selling pressure at all times. Piper Sandler downgraded the iPhone maker's stock to neutral from outperform, citing valuation concerns, macroeconomic weakness and a tight outlook in the handset sector.
Shares of autonomous driving technology company Mobileye Global (MBLY.US) fell 28% in pre-market trading after the company forecast preliminary fiscal 2024 revenue below earlier estimates. The company said it expects its customers to back out of orders as they dispose of excess inventory.
Analyst action
- Cowen upgraded Merck (MRK.US) to "outperform" from its previous "market perform" rating, citing apparent growth and favorable fundamental valuation
- Home Depot (HD) and Dollar General (DG) were raised to an "outperform" rating from an earlier "equal weight" rating at Barclays.
