Dow closes more than 150 points lower as Wall Street posts its worst one-week sell-off since March; European stocks close mostly higher as euro zone GDP beats forecasts; BELELX15 added 1.1%
Stocks fell on Friday, led by major tech shares, as Wall Street wrapped up a difficult week in which coronavirus cases rose, U.S. fiscal stimulus talks broke down and traders braced for next week’s presidential election. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 157.51 points lower, or 0.6%, at 26,501.60. At one point, the Dow was down more than 500 points. The S&P 500 dropped 1.2% to 3,269.96 and the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 2.5% to 10,911.59.
Shares of Apple fell 5.6% after the tech giant reported a 20% decline in iPhone sales and failed to offer investors any guidance for the quarter ahead. Amazon dropped 5.5% even after the e-commerce giant reported blowout third-quarter results with a big beat on the top line.
Meanwhile, Twitter lost more than 21% after the social media company reported user growth that fell short of expectations. Facebook was off by 6.3% amid a surprise decline in active users in Canada and the U.S. Shares of Alphabet bucked the negative trend for tech stocks, rising 3.8% after the Google parent company posted quarterly results that topped Wall Street expectations.
European markets closed mostly higher Friday after better-than-expected economic data, despite worries over tightening coronavirus restrictions. The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally closed up by around 0.2% after a choppy trading session, with oil and gas shares climbing 1.9% to lead the gains.
Euro zone GDP (gross domestic product) jumped by more than expected in the third quarter, with a quarterly climb of 12.7%, according to preliminary data from the EU statistics office on Friday.
In terms of individual share price action Friday, Ubisoft shares fell over 7% after the French video game company released its first-half results.
At the top of the European blue chip index, Proximus climbed 8% after the Belgian telecoms company beat third-quarter profit expectations and upgraded its guidance.
BELELX15 was up 1.1%, as Komercijlana Banka advanced over 5%. This is among largest daily index jumps over the last several months. The most active name was NIS, as it generated RSD 1.7m in volume. The stock was down 0.18%, while the company is about to report 9M/3Q numbers on Wednesday, 4th November.
Source: CNBC, Ilirika