Wall Street tumbles, hit by weak earnings, China

Wall Street tumbles,

hit by weak earnings,

China

 Business | Fri Apr 17, 2015 9:25pm IST

 

REUTERS - Wall Street opened sharply lower on Friday, with the major indexes falling one percent or more, on investor concerns over a clamp-down on margin trading in China and a number of disappointing earnings reports from U.S. corporations.

All ten major sectors posted declines with the S&P Financial losing 1.31 percent and the S&P Consumer Discretionary off by 1.37 percent.

"Today there is a confluence of excuses to move lower. There isn't one single good reason to move higher," said Anastasia Amoroso, global market strategist for J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

Both Honeywell International and General Electric blamed the strong dollar for lower revenue. Shares of Honeywell were down 2.2 percent at $101.66, while GE shares were up 0.5 percent at $27.43.

Dow component American Express, the world's largest credit card issuer, was down 4.7 percent to $77.27 after revenue fell short of analysts' estimates, hurt by currency and the loss of several co-branded tie-ups.

"Eventually people have to say, 'OK, forget about the Fed and central bankers nonsense and focus on the fundamentals,' because if the large-caps are coming in with lower-than-expected earnings, then you know that other smaller companies will be in trouble," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.

Chinese authorities lifted restrictions on short-selling while also warning against excessive borrowing on margin, two developments that could pressure that market.

China H-Share index futures fell 3.3 percent. Global equities lost ground as the weakness in China carried through to European markets and then into the United States.

The FTSEurofirst 300 was down 1.7 percent at 1,607.69 points by 1508 GMT. The Frankfurt DAX was down 2.4 percent while the Greek Bank Index was down 5.5 percent.

"The restrictions on short-selling have been lifted in China and when one market sneezes, the rest of them usually react," said Saluzzi.

Market participants also renewed their concerns Greece could leave the euro zone as it tries to reform its economy and deal with heavy debt.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 263.49 points, or 1.46 percent, to 17,842.28, the S&P 500 lost 23.34 points, or 1.11 percent, to 2,081.65 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 72.43 points, or 1.45 percent, to 4,935.37.

The U.S. quarterly earnings season has been mixed so far with more companies beating lowered expectations.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices were down 14.1 percent at $2.46. The chipmaker posted a bigger loss and said it expected continued weak demand for personal computers.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,469 to 422, for a 5.85-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 2,151 issues fell and 437 advanced, for a 4.92-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week high and 1 new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 22 new highs and 25 new lows.

For the week, the main indexes were all down 1 percent or more.