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Resuming the Retreat
21-Jun-18 16:20 ET
Dow -196.10 at 24461.70, Nasdaq -68.56 at 7712.97, S&P -17.56 at 2749.50

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2018/6/21/resuming-the-retreat.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks dropped for the fourth time in five sessions on Thursday, with energy and industrial shares leading the retreat. The S&P 500 shed 0.6%, extending its weekly loss to 1.1%. The market opened flat, but dropped sharply about 30 minutes into the session. The S&P 500 settled near the bottom of its daily range.

E-commerce names took a hit on Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can require online retailers to collect sales tax, overturning a 1992 precedent. Shares of eBay (EBAY 38.01, -1.25) and Overstock.com (OSTK 36.15, -2.80) tumbled 3.2% and 7.2%, respectively, while shares of online retail behemoth Amazon (AMZN 1730.22, -19.86) declined 1.1%.

Meanwhile, energy shares in the S&P 500 lost 1.9% as top oil producers kicked off a two-day meeting in Vienna, Austria. The summit is expected to result in an agreement to raise production levels following more than 18 months of a deal designed to reduce output by 1.8 million barrels per day. WTI crude futures were down more than 1.0% in early trading, but ended lower by 0.3% at $65.54/bbl.

In the tech space (-0.8%), chipmakers were in focus following better-than-expected earnings from Micron (MU 59.44, +0.49) and the resignation of Intel's (INTC 52.19, -1.27) chief executive, Brian Krzanich, who is stepping down after violating the company's non-fraternization policy. Micron shares added 0.8%, while Intel shares declined 2.4%.

Elsewhere, shares of Kroger (KR 28.73, +2.55) and Darden Restaurants (DRI 107.06, +13.79) spiked 9.7% and 14.8%, respectively, after the companies beat quarterly earnings estimates. However, shares of German automaker Daimler (DDAIF 67.09, -3.18) lost 4.5% after the company issued a profit warning due to pending Chinese retaliatory tariffs on cars built in the United States.

In the UK, the Bank of England voted in favor of maintaining its key policy rate, but the decision was split with three of the nine policymakers pushing for a rate hike. The degree of disunity surprised some investors and helped increase demand for the pound, which climbed 0.6% against the U.S. dollar to 1.3245.

U.S. Treasuries rallied on Thursday, pushing yields lower across the curve. The benchmark 10-yr yield dropped to 2.90% from 2.93%.

Reviewing Thursday's economic data, which included the weekly Initial Claims report, the Philadelphia Fed Index for June, the FHFA Housing Price Index for April, and the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index for May:

The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 218,000, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 220,000. Today's tally was above the revised prior week count of 215,000 (from 218,000). As for continuing claims, they rose to 1.723 million from a revised count of 1.701 million (from 1.697 million).
If one wanted to extrapolate a concern from the initial claims report, it would be the notion that the low level of initial claims will keep the Fed inclined to raise interest rates.
The Philadelphia Fed Survey for June declined to 19.9 (Briefing.com consensus 27.0) from an unrevised 34.4 in May.
The key takeaway from the report is that the downturn was led by a sharp pullback in the New Orders Index, which dropped to 17.9 from 40.6, and that the Unfilled Orders Index dropped to -2.7 (first negative reading since January) from 15.3, suggesting firms' backlog diminished.
The FHFA Housing Price Index rose 0.1% in April, and the March increase was revised to 0.2% from 0.1%.
The Conference Board's Leading Economic Index increased 0.2% in May (Briefing.com consensus +0.4%), and the April increase was left unrevised at 0.4%.
The key takeaway from the report is that the strength among the leading indicators remains very widespread.

Investors will not receive any notable economic data on Friday.

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