There are some days when the S&P 500 starts out green and never goes red. Then there are days similar to today when the index started out in the red and never came close to going in the green.
The culprit, Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT), with the surprise announcement of lower guidance between reports for the first time in over eight years. As a result, there was an all-out assault on the retail sector, whether it was closely related to it or not.
In addition, investors were cautious ahead of the mega-tech Q2 reports after the close of Microsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG or GOOGL). As it turns out, that caution was prudent as both of the companies posted disappointing Q2 reports.
It should be noted that despite the poor reports by two of the biggest components of the index, it has yet to crater in after-hours trading. In fact, the last after-hours print is 3939.25 which is 16 handles above the closing price which was a decline of 46.75 handles at 3923.25.
Safety play, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was the biggest winner of the top components of the index. For the session, the issue gained $1.22 or 0.72 percent to close at $173.68.
That was over 2% better than the cash index’s decline of 1.15%.
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META), which went from a five-day winning streak to now a three-day losing streak was the biggest loser of the top components. For the session, the issue declined by $7.50 or 4.5 percent to close at $159.15.
PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI)
Move the opposite way of the major indexes after a Q2 beat. Read more on NXPI here.
