After Market: Tech Stocks Help Lead Broader Market Lower on Wall Street
Twitter's debut grabs the headlines, but the rest of the market stumbled. Shares of Twitter soared, but other key Internet stocks helped lead the broader market's big losses.
The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) dropped 153 points, giving back all of Tuesday's big gains. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) fell 23, and the Nasdaq composite index (^IXIC) tumbled 74 points.
The market ignored some surprisingly upbeat economic news -- a stronger-than-expected 2.8 percent increase in third quarter GDP, a drop in weekly jobless claims, and an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank.
As for Twitter, the stock was priced at $26 a share. The first trade was at $45 and change. And after a brief spurt higher, it closed at just below $45 a share. A lot of market pros think it's very richly valued at that level. At that price, Twitter has a market value above $30 billion -- about equal to such well-known, profitable companies as General Mills (GIS) and CBS (CBS).
In the meantime, Facebook (FB), LinkedIn (LNKD), Groupon (GRPN) and Yelp (YELP) all slid Thursday. There's not necessarily a direct correlation with Twitter's IPO, but these are companies that often named as comparable to the microblogging firm.
Outside of the Internet space, Whole Foods (WFM) was one of the standout losers. %VIRTUAL-article-sponsoredlinks%It had been a hot stock until sliding 10 percent today. The upscale grocer lowered its sales forecast for the current fiscal year.
Wendy's (WEN) also tumbled 11 percent and the casual restaurant chain Noodles (NDLS) lost 10 percent -- both on disappointing earnings news.
While losers certainly dominated the trading, but there were some interesting gainers as well.
The biotech firm Geron (GERN) soared 45 percent on news of positive test results for its experimental drug to treat a bone marrow disease. In just three months, Geron shares have quadrupled in value.
A pair of struggling retailers posted big gains. J.C. Penney (JCP) shares gained more than 5 percent as a key measure of sales rose last month, the first increase in two years. And American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) rose 4 percent. The company raised its earnings outlook.
What to Watch Friday:
At 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, the Labor Department releases employment data for October at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time and the Commerce Department releases personal income and spending for September.
At 10 a.m., the Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for September and the University of Michigan releases its preliminary survey of consumer sentiment for November.
These major companies are scheduled to report quarterly corporate earnings:
-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.
