US stocks fall on lacklustre Walmart outlook
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Traders working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, in New York City.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK – Wall Street stocks dropped on Feb 20 following disappointing results from Walmart, as banking shares fell in a move analysts attributed to profit taking.
Walmart reported quarterly results that met expectations, but shares slid 6.5 per cent after its forecast missed expectations.
Meanwhile, shares of Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase fell 3 per cent or more, dragging on major indices.
The S&P 500, which finished at a record the last two days, dropped 0.4 per cent to 6,117.55.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1 per cent to 44,176.65, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.5 per cent to 19,962.36.
The drop in banking shares hit stocks that were “very overbought,” said Mr Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments, who noted that major US indices finished above their session lows in spite of significant geopolitical uncertainty.
“Whenever there’s been trouble in the market, buyers have showed up,” said Mr Sarhan, who views the dynamic as an indication of underlying bullishness.
Among individual companies, Boeing slumped 2.8 per cent after President Donald Trump said he was looking at “alternatives” to the company’s Air Force One operation because of delivery delays.
But Hasbro surged 13 per cent after reporting better than expected profits. The toymaker expects 2025 revenues to be “up slightly”, it said. AFP
