Thursday's Stock Market Close: Twitter, Nokia Weigh On Tech Sector As Nasdaq Climbs

Tech stocks led the way in Thursday trading as investors digested earnings reports against economic data pointing to a global economic slowdown and Vice President Mike Pence took aim at China’s reaction to Hong Kong protests.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 28 points to 26,095 while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 66 points to 8,185 and the S&P 500 gained 5 points to 3,010.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 2.9 billion shares with 1,306 issues advancing and 1,634 declining. One-hundred-forty-one issues set new highs and 1,634 fell to new lows.

Leading the most actives were Nokia Corp. ADR (NOK), which fell more than 23% on 5G woes, Ford Motor Co. (F), which revealed a Nov. 17 date for releasing its all-electric, Mustang-inspired SUV dubbed the Mach E, and Twitter ( TWTR), which saw shares tumble 21% after reporting third-quarter earnings.

Nokia lowered its profit expectations for this year and next, saying it planned to withhold third- and fourth-quarter dividends. It reported third-quarter net earnings of $478 million, down 2% from the 2018 third-quarter’s $487 million.

Twitter reported third-quarter profits of $37 million or 5 cents a share on total revenue of $832 million, compared to $789 million or $1.02 a share on revenue of $758 million in the year ago quarter. The company said its costs and expenses rose 17% over last year as the company focused on long-term growth. “We’ll continue to prioritize our ad products along with health and our investments to drive ongoing growth in mDAU,” said Ned Segal, Twitter’s chief financial officer.

Amazon (AMZN) missed earnings estimates in third-quarter results issued shortly after market close, sending its shares 7% lower in after-hours trading. The e-commerce and cloud giant reported net earnings of $2.88 billion or $5.75 a share on revenue of $20.5 billion, compared with $2.13 billion or $4.31 a share on revenue of nearly $23 billion in the year ago quarter. Amazon predicted an 11% increase in income in the fourth quarter as the company ramps up free one-day delivery for Prime members.

Southwest Airlines (LUV), particularly hard hit by the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max, reported net income of $659 million or $1.23 a share compared to $615 million or $1.08 a share in the year ago quarter. Total operating revenue rose little more than 1% to $5.6 billion. The news sent Southwest shares 5% higher.

American Airlines (AAL) was up 4% after reporting net third-quarter income of $425 million or 96 cents a share, compared with $372 million or 81 cents a share in the year ago quarter. Total operating revenue was up 3% to $11.9 billion. American trimmed its outlook for the rest of the year, blaming the grounding of the 737 Max in part. The airline estimates the 737 Max cost it $140 million.

Tesla (TSLA) surged 17% on a surprise profit for the third quarter. Tesla reported net income of $311 million or $1.82 a share on total revenue of $6.8 billion, compared to $143 million or 80 cents a share on revenue of $6.3 billion in the third quarter of last year. Tesla said the results reflect the company’s concentration on controlling costs for Model 3 production and positioning itself for future growth.

In a major policy speech in Washington, Vice President Mike Pence sharply criticized China’s handling of Hong Kong protesters and criticized U.S. companies that have bowed to Chinese pressure. Pence said, however, the U.S. does not want to “de-couple” from China, nor is it seeking a confrontation.

The remarks come ahead of another round of trade talks Friday between Chinese officials and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

“While trade talks have hurt profits all year, of the S&P 500 companies that have released third-quarter earnings so far, 81% beat analyst expectations. That means the trade talks haven’t derailed the economy,” said Anthony Denier, CEO of Webull. “I think we need to look at consumer stocks and tech. If they report good earnings, that should portend a good holiday season. If not, all bets are off.”

Elsewhere, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would give lawmakers one more chance to approve his Brexit deal Nov. 6. He also wants to call elections for Dec. 12.

Global markets were mostly higher. In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed up 0.87% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.55% while China’s Shanghai Composite dipped 0.02%. Australia’s S&P/ASX added 0.31%.

In Europe, London’s FTSE closed up 0.93% higher while the German DAX added 0.58% and the French CAC was up 0.55%. The Stoxx Europe 600 posted a 0.59% gain.

The British pound was off 0.5% to $1.285 while the euro lost 0.23% to $1.1104 and the dollar index inched up 0.21%.

Oil futures were mixed. Crude oil added 0.45% to $56.23 while Brent crude dipped 0.1% to $61.61. Gold and silver futures were higher. Gold added $10 to $1,505 and ounce while silver moved 24 cents higher to $17.82 an ounce.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note added 1/32 with the yield falling to 1.764%. The 30-year note gave up 1/32, with the yield rising to 2.26%.