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Market indices could not overcome early morning selloffs following stronger-than-expected prints on both July Retail Sales and Import Prices. After the opening bell, we saw Business Inventories flat month over month and North American Home Builders Confidence drop back down to 50, below the 57 expected and the 56 posted a month ago. Lower housing supply, higher mortgage rates and construction costs, and a depleted construction labor market added to a softening of this confidence survey.
In all, the Dow slid -360 points, -1.02%, while the Nasdaq was down -157 points, -1.14%. The S&P 500 was in-line, -1.16% for the session, while the small-cap Russell 2000 fell the furthest of the major indices, -1.29%. For the S&P, the index has slipped beneath its 50-day moving average for the first time in roughly five months. Both the S&P and the Nasdaq currently see their five-month winning streaks in jeopardy halfway through August.
H&R Block (HRB - Free Report) beat earnings estimates for its fiscal Q4 this afternoon, reporting earnings of $2.05 per share on $1.03 billion which outpaced expectations of $1.89 per share and $1.01 billion, respectively. Full-year revenue guidance was posted at $3.47 billion, ahead of the $3.45 billion in the Zacks consensus. Shares of the well-known tax preparation service firm have gained +5.7% on the news. After its stock fell to year-to-date lows around Memorial Day, its now back above breakeven year to date.
Agilent Technologies (A - Free Report) also released better-than-expected results for its fiscal Q3 after today’s close, with earnings of $1.43 per share stepping beyond the $1.37 analysts were expecting (and better than the $1.34 per share reported in the year-ago quarter), and revenues of $1.67 billion squeaking past the $1.66 billion in the Zacks consensus. However, full-year guidance for both earnings and sales came in lower than current estimates in this afternoon’s report, which is likely why shares are trading down -2.1% in late trading. Agilent is down year-to-date by now more than -16%.
Tomorrow we get another fairly eventful day, with Housing Starts and Building Permits, as well as Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, all for the month of July coming out before the opening bell. Wednesday afternoon, we’ll get the minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where interest rates were ratcheted up another 25 basis points after pausing during the FOMC’s June meeting. In the morning, we’ll see Q2 results from Target (TGT - Free Report) and after the close Cisco Systems (CSCO - Free Report) , both of which are expected to put up big earnings gains from the year-ago quarter.
Image: Bigstock
Markets Remain Sold; H&R Block (HRB), Agilent (A) Beat
Market indices could not overcome early morning selloffs following stronger-than-expected prints on both July Retail Sales and Import Prices. After the opening bell, we saw Business Inventories flat month over month and North American Home Builders Confidence drop back down to 50, below the 57 expected and the 56 posted a month ago. Lower housing supply, higher mortgage rates and construction costs, and a depleted construction labor market added to a softening of this confidence survey.
In all, the Dow slid -360 points, -1.02%, while the Nasdaq was down -157 points, -1.14%. The S&P 500 was in-line, -1.16% for the session, while the small-cap Russell 2000 fell the furthest of the major indices, -1.29%. For the S&P, the index has slipped beneath its 50-day moving average for the first time in roughly five months. Both the S&P and the Nasdaq currently see their five-month winning streaks in jeopardy halfway through August.
H&R Block (HRB - Free Report) beat earnings estimates for its fiscal Q4 this afternoon, reporting earnings of $2.05 per share on $1.03 billion which outpaced expectations of $1.89 per share and $1.01 billion, respectively. Full-year revenue guidance was posted at $3.47 billion, ahead of the $3.45 billion in the Zacks consensus. Shares of the well-known tax preparation service firm have gained +5.7% on the news. After its stock fell to year-to-date lows around Memorial Day, its now back above breakeven year to date.
Agilent Technologies (A - Free Report) also released better-than-expected results for its fiscal Q3 after today’s close, with earnings of $1.43 per share stepping beyond the $1.37 analysts were expecting (and better than the $1.34 per share reported in the year-ago quarter), and revenues of $1.67 billion squeaking past the $1.66 billion in the Zacks consensus. However, full-year guidance for both earnings and sales came in lower than current estimates in this afternoon’s report, which is likely why shares are trading down -2.1% in late trading. Agilent is down year-to-date by now more than -16%.
Tomorrow we get another fairly eventful day, with Housing Starts and Building Permits, as well as Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, all for the month of July coming out before the opening bell. Wednesday afternoon, we’ll get the minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where interest rates were ratcheted up another 25 basis points after pausing during the FOMC’s June meeting. In the morning, we’ll see Q2 results from Target (TGT - Free Report) and after the close Cisco Systems (CSCO - Free Report) , both of which are expected to put up big earnings gains from the year-ago quarter.
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