Stock Market Today: Stocks Sink With Big Tech Earnings Ahead

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published 20 October 2023

Stocks closed out a dismal week on a down note as Treasury yields hovered near their highest levels in almost two decades. The latest round of earnings reports did little to lift sentiment, while investors also reduced exposure heading into the weekend amid elevated geopolitical tensions.

Investors are keeping a close eye on bond yields, with those on the 2-year and 10-year Treasury notes hovering near levels not seen since 2006 and 2007, respectively. What's more, the yield on the 10-year note came dangerously close this week to breaking out above the 5% mark – something it hasn't done since July 2007.

Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial, wonders if the equity market can climb higher during a historically bullish period for the stocks if yields remain this high. "The equation is going to be tested, and perhaps stronger earnings and guidance will counteract the negative effect on the market," Krosby says.

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American Express, Regions Financial drop after earnings

Speaking of earnings, American Express (AXP) shed 5.4% after the credit card giant reported its third-quarter results. While AXP beat on both the top and bottom lines amid strong consumer spending, it also increased its total provisions for credit losses by 58% year-over-year to $1.23 billion.

Elsewhere in the financial sector, Regions Financial (RF) slumped 12.4% after the regional lender reported lower-than-expected third-quarter earnings of 49 cents per share, while revenue of $1.85 billion also fell short of forecasts.

Goldman Sachs analyst Ryan Nash said it was the company's guidance "that was the big disappointment as revenues, net interest income and loan growth were all decreased while expenses and credit costs were both increased." Still, the analyst maintained a Buy rating on the financial stock.

Next week's earnings calendar is jam-packed with high-profile mega-cap companies, including Microsoft (MSFT, -1.4%), Meta Platforms (META, -1.3%) and Amazon.com (AMZN, -2.5%).

SolarEdge sinks after warning on Q3 results

In non-earnings news, SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG) spiraled 27.3% after the company, which makes inverters that convert energy generated by a solar panel into electricity used by traditional electrical grids, warned its third-quarter results will come in at the lower end of guidance.

"During the second part of the third quarter of 2023, we experienced substantial unexpected cancellations and pushouts of existing backlog from our European distributors," Zvi Lando, chief executive officer of SolarEdge, said in a press release.

Lando said these cancellations and pushouts were due to "higher than expected inventory in the channels and slower than expected installation rates. In particular, installation rates for the third quarter were much slower at the end of the summer and in September where traditionally there is a rise in installation rates."

Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Lee downgraded the solar stock to Neutral (the equivalent of Hold) from Buy. "After a second straight disappointing quarter of results and guidance, we find it hard to defend the stock," Lee wrote in a note to clients. The effects of "ongoing inventory, end market demand, and now margin issues" will likely create "headwinds for the stock for the foreseeable future given what appears to be a significant deterioration in visibility."

As for the major indexes, the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5% to 12,983, the S&P 500 shed 1.3% to 4,224, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.9% at 33,127. All three benchmarks suffered notable weekly losses too.

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With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is an investing editor and options expert at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.