Saturday, August 2, 2014

August anxiety: Stocks slumping again

The calendar may have changed to August but stocks have resumed their late July tumble. The market opened flat Friday in response to another healthy jobs report, but by midday the Dow was down more than 100 points.

The Dow is lower for the year in the wake of Thursday's 317-point drop. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both retreated almost 1%.

Each plunged about 2% Thursday. Here's what you need to know about the markets today.Jobs, jobs, jobs: Employers added 209,000 jobs in July.

That was well shy of the 288,000 jobs that were created in June and below the gain of 230,000 jobs predicted by economists polled by CNNMoney .

The weaker-than-expected jobs report could ease fears on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates early next year.  The government said the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.2% from 6.1%.

"The employment data was not too hot, not too cold. It was just about right in terms of what a skittish market was looking for," said Dave Donabedian, chief investment officer at Atlantic Trust, which manages about $25 billion in assets. In other economic news, a new ISM report showed U.S. manufacturing activity shifted into a higher gear in July.

However, a separate report revealed consumer sentiment dipped in July to the lowest level since March.World markets sliding: European markets fell, following the lead of the U.S on Thursday. Germany's Dax tumbled on concerns about the impact of escalating tensions with Russia on the region's fragile economy.

The EU turned up the heat on Moscow Thursday by including Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, on its list of sanctions targets. Shares of Sberbank (SBRCY)and VTB, the country's second biggest bank, sank by about 2% Friday.

Societe Generale (SCGLF) fell by 2.5% after the French bank's second quarter earnings showed business in Russia is suffering. It joins a chorus of Western companies facing problems in Russia. "There has been large, insistent selling of stocks out of Europe.

Someone or something in Europe is de-risking aggressively and dragging everything else down with him/her/it," Michael Block, chief strategist at Rhino Trading Partners, wrote in a note to clients.

Big movers -- GoPro, LinkedIn, Iliad: GoPro's (GPRO) debut earnings report failed to impress Wall Street's extreme expectations, driving the gadget maker's stock down 14%. Iliad (ILIAY) dropped 7% in Europe after the French telecom firm made a surprise $15 billion takeover bid for T-Mobile USA (TMUS).

On the other hand, shares of LinkedIn (LNKD, Tech30) popped 9% after the social media company posted better-than-expected quarterly results. Expedia (EXPE) traveled 5% higher on upbeat earnings and a 29% jump in bookings.

Tesla (TSLA) also drove 2.5% higher ding after Elon Musk's electric car maker reported strong sales and a profit that topped forecasts. Bally Technologies (BYI) hit the jackpot as Scientific Games (SGMS) agreed to acquire the slot-machine maker for $3.3 billion.

Bally spiked 30% on the buyout, which also sent Scientific Games climbing 9%.Procter & Gamble (PG) rallied about 4% after posting a solid earnings beat despite shrinking sales. Investors largely overlooked the consumer products giant's tepid outlook for the year.

Burger King (BKW) relinquished an early 2% gain as investors digest the fast food chain's earnings beat .

Other big-name companies also reported earnings, including Clorox (CLX) and Chevron (CVX). Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) is scheduled to post results after the close.

cnn.com

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