PremiumShare Market Live updates: Indian market traded in the green through the session as Sensex ends above 65,700 and Nifty above 19,500 on Friday. IT and Consumer Durable stocks led the rally, while SBI and Bajaj Auto dragged.
The optimism is on the back of the faith that investors have in the domestic economy and better-than-expected corporate earnings.
Asian stocks markets were mixed Friday ahead of a U.S. jobs update that could influence interest rate plans after Britain’s central bank raised its key lending rate.
Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul rose. Tokyo and Sydney declined. Oil prices advanced.
Indian shares advanced on Friday as Cipla's surge to a record high led drugmakers higher, while metal and IT stocks gained on hopes Fed rate cut after US ratings downgrade.
The Nifty 50 index climbed 135 pts to close the week above 19,500, at 19,517, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 480 pts, to end at 65,721. Still, the Nifty lost 0.6% this week and Sensex 0.7%, which is the worst week in over three months, having remained under pressure for the past few sessions on weak global cues, including the U.S. sovereign rating cut and weak China data.
Twelve of the 15 sectoral indexes logged gains on the day with IT, Private Bank and Consumer Durable jumping more than a per cent each. PSU Bank and Auto shed in today's session.
IndusInd Bank, Cipla and Tech Mahindra led the stock charts as they gained more than 3% each. Wipro and HCL Tech were other prominent gainers. SBI shed more than 2% despite a strong quarterly showing. Bajaj Auto also shed more than 2%.
Japan's Nikkei share average ended almost flat amid caution ahead of the release of U.S. payrolls data, while gains in technology stocks supported the index. The Nikkei inched up 0.10%. The index lost almost 4% in the previous two sessions after a surprise cut to the U.S. credit rating shook the market, and posted a weekly loss of 1.7%.
China and Hong Kong stocks closed up as investor sentiment improved after a press conference co-hosted by China's central bank, but gains were limited by the continued lack of details on the government's economic stimulus plans.
China's blue-chip CSI 300 Index closed up 0.4%, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2%. The Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 0.6%. For the week, CSI 300 Index was up 0.7% while Hang Seng Index was down 1.9%.
European stocks steadied after this week’s losses on signs of economic recovery in Germany while investors await the US monthly labour report. Oil stocks rose with crude prices while WPP Plc was among the biggest laggards after it cut its revenue guidance for the full year citing lower sales in the US from technology clients.
UK's FTSE 100 rose on Friday after three sessions of losses, buoyed by rising energy stocks, while WPP shares slumped after the world's biggest advertising group reduced its full-year outlook, keeping gains in check.
The initial public offering (IPO) of Srivari Spices and Foods Limited will be available for subscription from August 7, 2023 (Monday) to August 9, 2023. The price band for the IPO has been fixed at ₹40 to ₹42 per equity share.
The company aims to raise ₹9 crore at the upper band price through this IPO. Upon successful listing, the shares of Srivari Spices and Foods Limited will be traded on the NSE EMERGE platform.
The net proceeds from the IPO will be used to fund the company's working capital requirements and for general corporate purposes. (Read More)
The demand for gig workers in white-collar jobs has risen recently. According to a report conducted by CIEL Group, a talent solutions provider, 55% of the organisation have hired gig workers for their work. Notably, in some cases, the proportion of gig workers has reached as high as 20% of their total workforce, suggesting a huge share of gig workers within these organisations.
"We are witnessing a paradigm shift in the world of work, with gig employment becoming increasingly popular among employers due to its advantages including cost-effectiveness, scalability, and access to specialised skills," Aditya Narayan Mishra, MD & CEO at CIEL HR said. (Read More)
VIP Industries clocked sales of Rs6.4bn (+8% YoY), EBITDA of Rs0.81bn (-22% YoY) and PBT (before exceptional) of Rs0.52bn (-48%). Volumes grew by 10%. Sales growth was relatively subdued on account of weakness in CSD, Institutional and Export sales (30% of channel). Rest 70% of the channel grew by 16%. Gross and EBITDA margins declined by 46/470bps on a YoY basis to 49.5/12.7% respectively. Weaker GM profile was on account of inferior product mix (-2%) and discounting (-1.6%). Sharp decline in EBITDA margins was on account of higher ad spends (+2.6%), decrease in GM (-0.8%), increase in employee cost (+0.3%) and other expenses (+1.6%). Historically (pre-COVID) 1Q has been the strongest quarter contributing 29-32% to annual sales and 35-40% to annual PBT. Keeping this in context, we have cut our FY24 eps (ex. exceptional income) estimates by 10% and FY25 by 14%. We expect VIP to grow its sales/EBITDA/PAT at CAGR of 13/18/28% over FY23-25E. We maintain BUY rating valuing at 43x FY25E (earlier 45x) to arrive at target price of Rs762.
The initial public offering (IPO) of TVS Supply Chain Solutions is scheduled to open for subscription on August 10. TVS Supply Chain Solutions, previously a part of the TVS Group and now a part of the TVS Mobility Group, operates in four business verticals: supply chain solutions, manufacturing, auto dealership, and aftermarket sales and service.
Investors can subscribe to the TVS Supply Chain IPO from August 10 to August 14. Before the IPO opens for general subscription, the anchor book will be open for one day on August 9. (Read More)
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought Indian shares worth 466.18 billion rupees ($5.63 billion) on a net basis in July, data from the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) showed on Friday.
This is slightly less than inflows of 471.5 billion rupees in June 2023, the highest monthly FPI inflow since August 2022.
Sustained FPI inflows have powered the uptick in the blue-chip Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex, driving the benchmarks to record highs. The Nifty 50 rose 2.94% in July. [.BO]
Between March and July, FPIs have been net buyers of Indian equities in each of the five months, purchasing shares worth 1,553.08 billion rupees and triggering a 14.15% rise in Nifty 50 index.
"The rally to record highs in July was predominantly driven by foreign inflows," said Samrat Dasgupta, CEO, Esquire Capital Investment Advisors. (Reuters)
M&M firm is not planning to increase its capital allocation discipline in RBL bank. Its investment has not changed and there is no intention of going further beyond this, said M&M CEO Anish Shah on Friday.
Savi Soin as the President of Qualcomm India. In this role, he will be responsible for shaping the company's strategy in the Indian market. The announcement of his appointment was reported by PTI.
Savi Soin brings a wealth of experience to the position, having been associated with Qualcomm for more than two decades. Before taking up the role of President of Qualcomm India, he served as the head of strategy and business development at Qualcomm Technologies' semiconductor division. (Read More)
Lupin's share price surged more than 4% to reach a new 52-week high of ₹1,078 in intraday trade on BSE on Friday (August 4). The stock seemed to be on track to extend its gains for the fifth consecutive session. The positive momentum comes a day after the company released its financial results for the June quarter.
Lupin reported a consolidated net profit of ₹453.33 crore for Q1FY24, a significant improvement compared to the consolidated net loss of ₹86.82 crore in the same quarter of the previous financial year. Moreover, the total revenue from operations for the quarter stood at ₹4,814.06 crore, showing a notable increase from ₹3,743.84 crore in the same quarter last year. (Read More)
SBI net profit in Q1FY24 zooms 178% to ₹16,884 crore from ₹6,068 crore, YoY. SBI net interest income in the quarter ended June 2023 rose 24.5% to ₹38,904 crore from ₹31,195.9 crore, YoY. (Read More)
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) reported a remarkable standalone net profit of ₹2,773.73 crore in the quarter ended June 2023, witnessing a substantial growth of 97.6% compared to ₹1,403.61 crore in the same quarter last year.
The company's standalone revenue from operations during Q1FY24 saw an impressive 23% jump, reaching ₹24,368 crore from ₹19,813 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Furthermore, other income also increased significantly to ₹658 crore from ₹140 crore in the year-ago quarter.
In terms of operating performance, the quarter under review saw M&M's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rise by 46.5% to ₹3,547 crore from ₹2,421 crore. The EBITDA margin also improved from 12.2% to 14.6% year-on-year, indicating the company's strong operational efficiency and profitability during the specified quarter.
HDFC Bank announced on Friday the inauguration of more than 100 Banking Correspondent Centres (BCC) across many states in India. These centres will function as a mini branch, with Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) assisting customers to avail banking products digitally, said the statement.
The VLEs, who are existing micro-entrepreneurs and are delivering Government-to-Consumer (G2C) services, now will additionally provide banking products and services to deeper geographies of the country. With access to a wide range of banking products, the BCs can now tap into a new revenue stream, the statement added.
Investors should not get carried away because with rising crude oil and rubber prices, sustaining operating margin at this level will be a tall ask for the company.
"Also, with muted demand trends in replacement segment, we expect competitive intensity to inch up, which may put pressure on profitability. Overall, we expect Ebitda margins to peak out during the quarter and will moderate to 16% in Q4FY24E and 15% over FY2025-26E," said a Kotak Institutional Equities report. (Read More)
Fast-moving consumer goods company Dabur India is eyeing acquisitions in the direct-to-consumer segment as it tries to make inroads into the market for new-age brands.
“We’ve got money sitting in the balance sheet for acquisition purposes. We’re continuously scouting for targets in the D2C space and if we come across a company which is synergistic to us in the healthcare play or the personal care play or skincare…we will evaluate them and if it seems financially worthwhile, we will acquire the company," Mohit Malhotra, chief executive officer, Dabur India, said during the company’s post-earnings call on Thursday. (Read More)
Royal Enfield is currently working on developing its first electric motorcycle, which is planned to be unveiled in the financial year 2026. Siddhartha Lal, the Managing Director of Royal Enfield, confirmed this timeline during a recent media interaction held as part of the Q1 FY2024 earnings call, according to a report by HT Auto.
The company has already set up the necessary infrastructure and backend systems to support the upcoming electric motorcycle.
In the previous quarter's earnings call, Royal Enfield had expressed its commitment to venture into the electric motorcycle space. To accelerate its electric vehicle (EV) initiatives, the company has also collaborated with Stark Future, a Spanish electric motorcycle manufacturer. (Read More)
Paytm's share price witnessed a notable rally of over 3% on Friday following the fintech giant's strong operating performance report for the month of July. The stock surged by as much as 3.86%, reaching ₹797.00 per share on the BSE.
In its monthly business update, One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, disclosed that its average monthly users grew by 19% year-on-year, reaching 9.3 crore users.
Additionally, the number of merchants paying subscriptions for payment devices increased to 82 lakh as of July 2023, representing a rise of 3.8 lakh devices in the month. Over the same month last year, the company added 41 lakh new merchant subscriptions, highlighting its continued growth in the merchant base. (Read More)
Perspective by Colin Shah, MD, Kama Jewelry on gold investment strategy post-Fitch downgrade: Global rating agency cutting the sovereign ratings of the US is a cause of concern. It has had a negative impact on the US and Indian equity markets. The downgrade has further aggravated concerns of an economic recession in the US. Since Gold is known to be a safe-haven asset in times of economic uncertainty it will attract investments.
Considering the current scenario, this can be an appropriate time for investors to invest in gold as the market seems to be in correction mode. The short to medium-term structure support gold prices. The yellow metal is likely to attain its previous high of $2100/oz globally, domestically it is likely to trade near the ₹62,000/10gm level.
On why Reliance's share price may bounce back, Bernstein report said, "Reliance is on the path of unlocking across business segments, evident from the recent IPO of Jio Financial Services (JFS), buyout of minorities/potential investor in Reliance Retail & the stabilizing of Telecom capex. Following our series of notes recently cross Retail, Telecom & New Energy, we analyze here the potential unlocking opportunities across businesses with 'path to potential IPOs' a key medium-term catalyst." (Read More)
Rahul AGARWAL and Harshit SARAWAGI of InCred Equities views on Metropolis Healthcare: Mixed 1Q; business gradually getting betterADD - Upgrade | INR1,408 tp:INR1,553
■ Revenue/EBITDA missed our estimates by 3-10%. LTL non-Covid patient revenue grew 12% yoy (patient vol: +9%; pricing: +3%). B2C grew +15% yoy.
■ Lab/PSC network expansion on track. City presence to double (FY26F: 700). Specialized test/premium wellness gains momentum. Net cash by Mar 2024F.
■ We expect a gradual recovery in non-Covid growth. We estimate EPS CAGR of 19% over FY23-25F. Upgrade to ADD rating with a higher TP of Rs1,553.
Innovatus Entertainment Networks had a flat debut on the stock exchange on Friday, with its shares being listed at ₹50 apiece, which was at par with its issue price, on the BSE SME platform.
During the subscription period from July 25 to July 27, the Innovatus Entertainment Networks IPO was heavily oversubscribed, reaching a subscription of 105.21 times. The public issue received strong interest from retail investors, with their portion being oversubscribed by 150.50 times. Non-institutional buyers also showed significant interest, subscribing to their portion 56.58 times.
The IPO, worth ₹7.74 crore, consisted of a fresh issue of 15.48 lakh equity shares. Innovatus Entertainment Networks issued the shares at a fixed price of ₹50 per share in the IPO. (Read More)
Shri Techtex shares made their debut on the NSE SME exchange at ₹81.15, providing lucky allottees with a substantial listing premium of approximately 33%. The public issue was offered in a price band of ₹54 to ₹61 per equity share, and the listing took place on the NSE SME exchange as planned.
After its strong debut on Dalal Street, the shares of Shri Techtex continued to gain further, surpassing the issue price. (Read More)
Ashutosh Somani of JM Financial views on Hindalco Industries | With destocking in rear-view, shipments and margins to surge
BUY INR 540
Novelis reported 1Q adj. EBITDA of USD421mn, in line with JMfe. Adj. EBITDA came in higher sequentially due to higher pricing and favourable mix despite lower shipments. The company achieved an EBITDA/t of USD479 during 1QFY24 vs US$431 in 4QFY23. Key takeaways from the call are – 1) beverage can segment de-stocking is nearly complete with volumes expected to improve going forward 2) EBITDA/t over the coming quarters expected above US$450/t 3) the company remains confident of achieving its guidance of sustainable EBITDA/t at US$525 by 4QFY24 4) the current quarter had higher shipments from the auto segment - mix likely to normalise in favour of can sheet without adversely impacting spreads as recycling benefits kick in 5) capex cost for Bay Minette project increased to US$2.7-2.8bn (US$2.5bn earlier) due to higher than expected cost of environmental permitting. The earnings trajectory is likely to benefit from both higher shipments and higher margins as the company moves onwards to its journey of sustainable EBITDA/t of US$525/t. Hindalco, given ~70%+ steady/strong EBITDA being non-LME linked, remains our preferred play in the metal space. Re-iterate BUY
Zomato's share price experienced a significant surge of 12% during early trade, following the company's announcement of its first-ever quarterly profit. The stock opened at ₹89, a rise from the previous day's closing price of ₹86.22. The positive momentum continued, and the share price reached a high of ₹98.39, representing a 12% jump in the morning trade.
At the time of writing, Zomato shares were trading at ₹96.71, showing a further increase of ₹10 or 12.17% compared to the previous day's closing price.
Prathamesh Mallya, DVP Research, Non-Agro Commodities & Currency, Angel One Ltd:
Gold Outlook: We expect gold to trade lower towards 59100 levels, a break of which could prompt the price to move lower to 58940 levels.
Crude Outlook: We expect crude to trade higher towards 6870 levels, a break of which could prompt the price to move higher to 6950 levels.
Base Metals Outlook: Uncertainties related to the postponed stimulus package are expected to exert downward pressure on metal prices, ultimately constraining potential gains within the metal markets.
Sakar Healthcare has emerged as one of the multibagger stocks in the Indian stock market during the post-Covid recovery phase. The company recently received a significant boost through a preferential offer, wherein Tata Healthcare fund acquired around 10.8% stake in Sakar Healthcare. This development was communicated to the Indian stock exchanges in the company's latest exchange communication. (read More)
Adani Power, a subsidiary of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group, revealed an impressive 83.26% increase in its first-quarter profit on Thursday. The growth was driven by a significant reduction in its tax expenses and a substantial increase in the collection of delayed payments.
During the April-June quarter, the company's consolidated net profit surged to 87.59 billion rupees ($1.06 billion), compared to 47.80 billion rupees recorded in the same period the previous year.
The substantial rise in profit can be attributed mainly to a nearly 96% decrease in the company's tax bill and a nearly four-fold increase in the collection of delayed payments, which included interest, from power distribution companies. (Read More)
Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services: In the 2-day correction in the market Nifty has lost 350 points. More importantly, higher corrections have happened in the large caps with the broader market holding on. A significant trend is that FPIs have been continuous sellers in the last six trading sessions with a cumulative sell figure of ₹7990 crores. With the 10-year US bond yield spiking to 4.16%, the FPIs may continue to sell or at least refrain from buying aggressively. The positive factor is that the DIIs are buying aggressively more than compensating for FPI selling. During the last six sessions DIIs have bought stocks for around ₹9000 crores.
Investors may take cues from Warren Buffet’s response to the Fitch downgrade that, “ There are some things that people should not be worried. This is one."
This is the time to nibble at high-quality large-caps, particularly in banking, capital goods, construction and autos.
Britannia Industries, a prominent FMCG company, is set to announce its Q1 results today. The company is expected to report a substantial increase in earnings, thanks to strong demand and a moderation in input cost inflation.
The FMCG sector's demand environment has remained stable, with growth led by the urban market. Additionally, the rural market is also showing signs of improvement in demand, both on a sequential and yearly basis. This improvement is attributed to companies passing on the benefits of lower commodity costs to consumers.
According to a brokerage poll by Livemint, Britannia Industries is projected to achieve an impressive 56.3% year-on-year (YoY) surge in its Q1 net profit, reaching ₹525 crore. These projected earnings signify the company's strong performance during the specified period. (Read More)
Fintech company Paytm on Thursday said its average monthly users rose by 19 per cent on-year to 9.3 crore.
Merchant subscriptions stood at 82 lakhs, with 41 lakh new subscriptions over the year, according to the filing. Sequentially, the company saw merchant subscriptions increase by about 4 lakh in July 2023, Paytm said in a filing.
Payment volumes for merchants or Gross Merchandise Values (GMV) rose 39 per cent on-year at ₹1.47 lakh crore.
"We continue to see increase in GMV of non-UPI instruments like EMI and cards. We are focused on payment volumes that generate profitability for us, either through net payments margin or from direct upsell potential," the company said. (PTI)
Mayank Mehraa, Smallcase manager and principal partner at financial consultancy Craving Alpha: Over the past two days, global markets have experienced a significant correction, triggered by FITCH's decision to downgrade the USA's credit rating. This selling pressure persisted today, with the Nifty plummeting over 200 points at one point and ultimately closing 145 points down for the day. However, despite these short-term fluctuations, it is crucial to consider the positive economic indicators observed during the June Quarter results for most companies in India and the USA.
Notably, Uber and Zomato, two prominent companies in their respective countries, have made notable strides in their financial performance. Uber declared its first-ever quarterly profit in the US, and Zomato achieved the same feat in India. This is especially significant because these companies have been operating at losses for decades, and their newfound profitability demonstrates the underlying strength of the economies they operate in.
Given the downgrading of the US credit rating, there is a possibility that it might compel the Federal Reserve (FED) to take action and finally implement a rate cut, potentially putting an end to their previous rate hike cycle. This move by the FED could have implications for the global financial landscape and may impact investors' decisions in the near future.
Top stocks in focus today:
1. Bharti Airtel - Mixed Q1 results
2. Cipla - Blackstone to submit bid for promoter stake
3. Adani Enterprises - Q1 net profit growth of 44%
4. Sun Pharma - Q1 net profit of ₹2,022.5 crore
5. Eicher Motors - Q1 net profit growth of 50%
6. Ambuja Cements/ACC - Adani Group to invest $4-5 billion in cement capacity expansion
7. Zomato - Q1 net profit of ₹2 crore
8. One97 Communications (Paytm) - Increase in monthly users and merchant subscriptions
9. Vedanta - Credit outlook downgraded, promoter sells shares
10. Cummins India - 59% increase in Q1 profit after tax. (Read More)
Today, the initial public offering (IPO) of Concord Biotech Limited has opened for subscription and will remain open until 8th August 2023. The company aims to raise ₹1,551 crore through the IPO, which is entirely an offer for sale (OFS) in nature. The price band for the IPO has been fixed at ₹705 to ₹741 per equity share.
Market observers have noted that Concord Biotech's share price has already started trading in the unlisted market. As of today, shares of Concord Biotech are available at a premium of ₹150 per equity share in the grey market. This indicates a strong demand and positive investor sentiment towards the company's IPO. (Read More)
Amazon.com Inc. announced its Q2 earnings for 2023, surpassing Wall Street's expectations with strong sales growth and profits. The company's success was attributed to its ability to deliver goods to shoppers faster and at more affordable prices, while also benefiting from a reduction in the challenges faced in its cloud computing business.
In response to various challenges, Amazon has been striving to maintain its position as the world's leading cloud service provider and online retailer. As a result of the positive earnings report, Amazon's shares experienced a significant surge of 9% in after-hours trading, boosting its stock market value by over $120 billion. (Read More)
Eicher Motors reported a robust net profit of ₹918 crore in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal year (Q1FY24), demonstrating an impressive growth of 50% compared to ₹610 crore achieved in the corresponding period last year. According to the company's regulatory filing, the revenue from operations for the commercial vehicle maker surged to ₹3,986 crore during the first quarter, up from ₹3,397 crore in the year-ago period.
This performance marks the best-ever Q1 results for Eicher Motors and represents the fourth consecutive quarter of achieving record-breaking revenue from operations and profit.
Royal Enfield, a division of Eicher Motors, also exhibited strong performance during the first quarter, selling 2,25,368 motorcycles. This represents a significant increase of 21% compared to the sales figure of 1,86,032 units in the same period of the previous fiscal year 2022-23. (Read More)
On Thursday, Apple announced its financial results for the fiscal third quarter, revealing a 2.3% growth in profit, reaching $19.9 billion. This growth was attributed to the strong performance of the services segment, which helped offset a dip in iPhone sales.
The company's total sales for the fiscal third quarter, which ended on July 1, declined by 1.4%, amounting to $81.8 billion. However, despite the overall sales decline, the earnings per share saw a positive increase of 5% to $1.26.
Notably, Apple experienced a 2.4% drop in iPhone sales during the same quarter. The iPhone segment traditionally contributes significantly to the company's total revenues, accounting for nearly half of the overall earnings. (Read More)
Adani Group will invest $4 billion-$5 billion to expand its cement capacity to over 100 million tonnes in two years, two people aware of the matter said, on a day the conglomerate made yet another acquisition.
On Thursday, Ambuja Cements Ltd, part of Adani Cement, announced the purchase of 57% promoter stake in cement maker Sanghi Industries Ltd at an enterprise value of ₹5,000 crore.
“Adani will add around 30 million tonne per annum (mtpa) cement making capacity in two years, both via organic and brownfield acquisitions, for which $4-5 billion could be invested, which will be funded mostly through internal accruals," one of the two people cited above said on condition of anonymity. (Read More)
Bharti Airtel released its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023-24 (Q1FY24) on August 3, showing a net profit of ₹1,612 crore. This figure remained almost unchanged when compared to the net profit of ₹1,607 crore in the corresponding period last year.
The company's revenue from operations during Q1FY24 reached ₹37,440 crore, indicating a significant increase of 14% compared to ₹32,850 crore in the same period last year.
On the operational front, Bharti Airtel performed well, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) growing by 19% to ₹19,746 crore during the June quarter. Additionally, the EBITDA margins saw a substantial increase of 277 basis points year-on-year, reaching 53.7%.
By the end of the June quarter, the net debt-EBITDA ratio (annualized), which includes the impact of leases, was calculated to be 2.63 times. (Read More)
According to a report from Economic Times, Blackstone is set to submit a non-binding bid next week to acquire more than 33% of the promoter stake in 'Cipla,' India's third-largest generics company by revenues.
This move marks the formal initiation of the exit process for the Hamied family, who have been associated with the company since 1935.
As reported by Moneycontrol, discussions are already underway with top shareholders of Cipla to sell approximately 33.47% of their stake to private equity players like Blackstone and Baring Asia. The company has engaged an investment bank to provide guidance and support throughout the deal. (Read More)
Stocks slipped Thursday as Wall Street’s red-hot rally for the year cooled a bit more.
The S&P 500 fell 11.50, or 0.3%, to 4,501.89 for its third straight loss after setting a 16-month high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 66.63, or 0.2%, to 35,215.89, and the Nasdaq composite dipped 13.73, or 0.1%, to 13,959.72.
A day earlier, U.S. stocks tumbled to their worst loss in months. While the drop came after Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. government’s credit rating, analysts say they expect the move to mean little for financial markets. U.S. Treasury debt is the cornerstone of the global financial system, but the downgrade likely won’t push any investors to dump theirs.
The big questions remain whether the economy will avoid a recession, how corporate profits will do and where interest rates are heading. Hanging over them all is whether the stock market’s big run this year was overdone, as critics suggest. (AP)
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