Stocks - Wall Street Eases at Open; Amazon to $1 Trillion?
Published Aug 30, 2018 09:39AM ET
Shares were slightly lower at the start of trading Thursday.
Investing.com - Stocks started the day slightly lower Thursday as investors took some profits following a strong market performance in the previous session.
But solid direction may be hard to come by, with many on Wall Street already eyeing the exits ahead of the end-of-summer three-day weekend.
The Dow fell 55.56, or 0.21%, to 26,069.01, while the broader S&P 500 index lost 5.42, or 0.19%, to 2,908.62. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 9.27, or 0.11%, to 8,100.42.
The latest economic data did little to provide a path, as it simply confirmed the U.S. economy is on solid footing.
Consumer spending rose as expected in July, as did the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge: the core PCE price index.
And while the ever-present concerns about U.S. trade with Mexico, Canada and China persist, investors were mostly free to concentrate on individual issues.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) could be the second U.S. company to reach $1 trillion in market capitalization, following Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), with a solid gain today. Amazon stock started 0.3% higher, while Apple rose 0.5%.
Elsewhere in tech, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) rose 0.4%, Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) gained 0.4% and Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) lost 0.3%.
Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) was in focus, falling 2.35%, after the company announced it would sell its international businesses and Fresh refrigerated-foods unit. But it faces pressure from hedge fund investors to sell the whole company and a proxy battle could be in the cards.
Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR), off 7.5%, and Dollar General (NYSE:DG), down 1%, struggled after reporting quarterly results before the bell, underscoring the difficulties for discount stores in a stronger economic environment.
And in M&A, K2M Group (NASDAQ:KTWO) surged 26% as Stryker (NYSE:SYK) announced it would buy the company for $27.50 a share. Stryker shares fell 1%.
In Europe, stocks were lower. Germany’s DAX fell 77 points, or 0.61%, while in France the CAC 40 decreased 24.21 points, or 0.44%, and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 50 points, or 0.67%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 26.5 points, or 0.77%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 114 points, or 1.2%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.24% to $1,208.60 a troy ounce, while crude oil futures increased 0.18% to $69.59 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.38% to 94.82.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Investing.com
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.