Nasdaq (^IXIC): -0.14% or -13.99 points to 9,711.97
Crude oil (CL=F): +0.84% or +0.43 to 51.60 a barrel
Gold (GC=F): +0.44% or +6.90 to 1,578.50 per ounce
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2:11 p.m. ET Judge temporarily blocks Microsoft Pentagon cloud contract
A judge temporarily blocked the JEDI cloud contract that was won by Microsoft (MSFT) and which Amazon (AMZN) had disputed, CNBC reports. Shares of Microsoft sold off more than 1% after the report, while shares of Amazon turned positive.
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11:33 a.m. ET: PepsiCo CFO says coronavirus has had little effect on sales to date
At least for now, PepsiCo’s (PEP) exposure to China’s coronavirus outbreak looks contained given the company’s relatively small exposure to the country.
“Obviously a very difficult situation there,” PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston said on Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade. ”We have six plants there, and five are up and running. We actually expect the Wuhan plant to be up and running in the coming days as well. We were shut down for a period of time coming out of Chinese New Year, but we seem to be getting back to up and running a bit.”
Earlier Thursday, the food and beverage giant reported fourth-quarter sales and earnings that topped expectations, delivering core earnings per share of $1.45 on net revenue of $20.64 billion. However, the company’s 2020 core EPS guidance of $5.88 trailed consensus estimates for $5.95.
Crude oil (CL=F): +$0.37% or +$0.19 to $51.36 a barrel
Gold (GC=F): +0.49% or +$7.70 to $1,579.30 per ounce
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9:31 a.m. ET: Stocks open lower after coronavirus cases surge
The three major domestic stock indices fell after China’s Hubei province announced it was changing the way it diagnosed and counted coronavirus cases, leading to a surge in new cases.
Declines in the Dow were led by a 5.5% drop in shares of Cisco, after the networking company reported another drop in quarterly revenue and guided toward further sales declines. Cisco reported quarterly results after market close Wednesday.
Here were the main moves in markets, as of 9:32 a.m. ET:
S&P 500 (^GSPC): -0.55% or -18.49 points to 3,367.31
During a call with analysts discussing the company’s fiscal third-quarter results that beat expectations, Zhang said that the coronavirus presents “near term” challenges to Alibaba’s businesses that will have “significant impact” on China and beyond.
The comments came amid quarterly results for the Chinese company that topped consensus expectations, with earnings, sales and mobile monthly active users each coming in better than anticipated.
8:30 a.m. ET: Jobless claims rise less than expected for week ended Feb. 8
New unemployment claims rose by 2,000 to 205,000 for the week ended February 8, the Labor Department said Thursday. This was below expectations for a jump to 210,000 new jobless claims, according to Bloomberg-compiled consensus data.
The four-week moving average for jobless claims – a less volatile measure of underlying trends – was unchanged from last week’s 212,000, which had been the lowest level since July.
Continuing unemployment claims rose by 1.698 million for the week ended February 1, well below the prior week’s rise of 1.759 million. Consensus economists expected this to rise to 1.734 million for the most recently reported week.
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8:30 a.m. ET: Consumer prices post biggest 12-month rise since October 2018 in January
Consumer prices posted their largest 12-month increase in more than a year in January, as prices for shelter, food and medical care services jumped.
The Labor Department’s headline consumer price index rose by 2.5% over last year in January, topping expectations for a 2.4% increase and December’s 2.3% rise. But over last month, consumer prices rose by just 0.1%, or slightly short of the 0.2% rise anticipated.
Excluding more volatile food and energy prices, CPI rose 2.3% over last year, or greater than the 2.2% increase expected. CPI excluding food and energy was up 0.2% over last month, matching expectations.
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7:54 a.m. ET: Tesla shares fall after announcing plan to issue $2 billion of common stock
Tesla (TSLA) will issue $2 billion of common stock in a public offering, with CEO Elon Musk set to buy up to $10 million worth of shares, the company said in a statement Thursday. Larry Ellison, Tesla board member and co-founder of Oracle, will buy up to $1 million of common stock.
The electric car-maker said it intends to use the proceeds from the offering to “further strengthen its balance sheet, as well as for general corporate purposes.”
Shares of Tesla sank 5% to $729 per share in early trading. The stock rose 83% for the year to date through Wednesday’s close.
Kraft Heinz (KHC) posted mixed fourth-quarter results, topping earnings expectations but missing consensus estimates for closely watched organic sales growth.
Fourth-quarter organic revenue fell 2.2%, or steeper than the 1.33% drop anticipated. Adjusted earnings were 72 cents per share in the fourth quarter, or four cents ahead of expectations.
Kraft Heinz is in the midst of an extensive turnaround plan first announced at the start of the fourth quarter. The consumer packaged foods company is also coming off a rocky year: Last February, it wrote down the value of its Kraft and Oscar Meyer brands by $15 billion and slashed its dividend, and its first-quarter 2019 financial results were delayed due to an SEC investigation into its accounting and procurement practices.
CEO Miguel Patricio said Kraft Heinz turnaround “will take time” but that he expects the company will “make significant progress in 2020.”
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7:38 a.m. ET: Stock futures tumble after number of coronavirus cases upwardly revised
U.S. stock futures tumbled Thursday morning after China announced a surge in additional cases of the coronavirus among patients diagnosed with a new testing method.
China’s Hubei national health commission said it will now count coronavirus cases diagnosed by methods including CT imaging scans. Previously, it had only counted cases found with nucleic acid testing kits.
The new method led to a spike in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, after days of an apparent slowdown in new patients had led many to believe the outbreak was peaking. Hubei added nearly 15,000 new cases on Thursday, with 13,332 of these found by the new method of diagnosis. Global cases of the coronavirus totaled 60,330, according to the European CDC Thursday morning, along with 1,369 deaths.
Here were the main moves during the pre-market session, as of 7:38 a.m. ET:
S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,356.75, down 23.75 points or 0.7%
Dow futures (YM=F): 29,309.00, down 214 points or 0.72%
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 9,541.25, down 84.5 points or 0.88%
Crude oil (CL=F): $51.03 per barrel, down $0.14 or 0.27%
Gold (GC=F): $1,577.50 per ounce, up $5.90 or 0.38%
A boy wearing a face mask waves a Chinese national flag as he sits on a stroller in Beijing on February 13, 2020. - The number of deaths and new cases from China's COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak spiked dramatically on February 13 after authorities changed the way they count infections in a move that will likely fuel speculation that the severity of the outbreak has been under-reported. (Photo by STR / AFP) (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)
