Major indexes fell slightly in the first hour of trading on Tuesday after Monday's sell-off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped further, by 0.7% at noon after opening 0.4% lower. The S&P 500 also fell further and shed over 1%. The tech-dominated Nasdaq showed the most downside, dropping 1.5%.
The Russell 2000 fell, though not as steeply as the Nasdaq, and was down 1% at 12 p.m. Tuesday.
Volume was lower on the NYSE and higher on the Nasdaq compared to the same time on Monday.
Crude oil continued its decline, albeit at a slower pace, and traded at $76.52 per barrel.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 4 basis points to 3.55%.
Stocks On Watch Today
Dow Jones leader Microsoft is pushing against antitrust laws in its $69 billion plans for acquiring Activision Blizzard. According to Reuters reports, Activision's popular Call of Duty game will be available on Sony's PlayStation for 10 years if the deal goes through. The software giant will make every new release of 'Call of Duty' available on PlayStation on the same day as XBox. MSFT is down 3% today.
Morgan Stanley analyst Betty Graseck upgraded JPMorgan to buy with a price target of $153. Nonetheless, the Dow Jones component fell 3% at noon.
Oppenheimer 's Christopher Glynn upgraded General Electric to outperform with a $104 price target. GE fell nearly 2%.
AbbVie is collaborating with Hotspot Therapeutics to license its discovery-stage IRF5 drug to treat autoimmune diseases. Shares are building a cup base with a buy point of 196.01. ABBV is down 0.5%.
Taiwan Semiconductor plans on a second chip plant in Arizona. The chip leader will increase its total investment in Arizona from $12 billion to $40 billion, following August's CHIPS and Science Act, which includes incentives. TSMC shares are down over 1%.
According to reports, Apple, Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia will be the first to buy U.S.-made chips, starting in 2024.
Royal Caribbean is down 6% after JPMorgan analyst Daniel Adam downgraded the stock to underweight with a price target of $47.
BioVie plunged over 20% even though its Phase 2 trial appeared to have a positive effect on biomarkers of age-related diseases, such as dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions.
Mirati Therapeutics plunged over 20% even though preliminary results showed favorable response to the non-chemotherapy regimen in non small cell lung cancer patients with certain types of mutation. Investors questioned whether Mirati's drug can take on traditional chemotherapy.
Outside Dow Jones: Earnings On Deck
AutoZone fell after it reported earnings early Tuesday. Sales grew 9% to $5.3 billion while earnings of $40.51 per share were 17% higher than the same quarter last year. Gitlab's third quarter sales of $113 million grew 69% while a loss of 10 cents per share was less than the 16 cents loss in Q3 of 2021. AZO is down 6% while GTLB, which was surging over 8%, has reversed in the market action today. Shares are now off 2%.
Costco, GameStop and Campbell Soup report on Wednesday. On Thursday, Lululemon and Broadcom are on tap.
Shares of Costco have fallen below the 50-day line after the wholesale giant lowered its outlook last week. Meme stock GME has also fallen below its 50-day line ahead of earnings. CPB is up down 0.5% and remains above its 50-day line. LULU shed 2% on strong volume in early action. AVGO is cutting below its 200-day line in downward action today.
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