Equity markets were hammered in the stock market today.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) slipped more than 2% at one point, but closed down “just” 1.8%, while the PowerShares QQQ ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ) fell 1.6% on Friday. It was a tricky session, that’s for sure.
The SPY was one of five top stock trades highlighted for Monday.
The WHO calmed investors’ fears on Thursday, as stocks went from notable losses to decent gains by the end of the day. All it did was setup investors for failure on Friday though, provided they came away from Thursday’s session feeling bullish.
The QQQ barely outperformed the S&P 500, despite seeing a significant rally from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Earnings Roundup
The e-commerce giant has been one of the worst performers in the FAANG group. While Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) are up big over the past 12 months — 90% and 60%, respectively — AMZN was up just 12% before its post-earnings pop.
After the company’s better-than-expected results though, shares erupted to new all-time highs when it hit $2,055.72. It also launched Amazon’s market cap north of $1 trillion, as it joins AAPL and MSFT in lofty company.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG) temporarily breached that mark earlier this month, but now sits just a few billion away from the $1 trillion club. However, its earnings report on Monday after the close could certainly help get it there — or send it even further away.
While Amazon stock ended higher by 7.4%, it was down notably from session highs and significantly from its Thursday after-hours high near $2,133. In any regard, analysts are feeling good about the report, even if it did come amid a tough day in the market.
RBC’s Mark Mahaney took his price target up from $2,500 to $2,700 and assigned a bull case price target of $3,200. If it pans out, that’s up about $1,200 per share from current levels.
Movers in the Stock Market Today
Bad timing for a dispute between Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA, NASDAQ:FOX) and Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU). Roku announced that its deal with Fox will be ending just a couple days before the Super Bowl. For its part, Roku is blaming Fox, while Fox has pulled references to Roku from various spots on its Super Bowl website. It’s a lose-lose situation, with both companies directing users to other platforms.
Due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) is following several other airlines and suspending flights in and out of China, starting February 6th and lasting through April 30.
United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) also joined in canceling its flights to the Chinese mainland through March 27. That news follows reports that the union repping the pilots for American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) is suing the airline to get an immediate suspension of flights between the US and China.
Nintendo (OTCMKTS:NTDOY) is putting rumors to rest by announcing that there will not be a new Nintendo Switch this year. Switch Lite was launched in September and as of now there are no plans for an update. Switch seems to be doing just fine though, with lifetime sales up to a whopping 52.48 million units and a recent upgrade forecast of sales from 18 million units to 19.5 million through its fiscal year-end in March.
C-Suite Shake Up
Shares of IBM (NYSE:IBM) climbed 5.1% on news of some big role changes for the company happening April 6.
Ginni Rometty will be stepping down as current CEO, but will still continue as executive chairman until the end of the year before retiring. Current senior VP for Cloud and Cognitive Software Arvind Krishna will be taking over the role as IBM’s CEO. In other news for the company, James Whitehurst is the newly elected IBM president also effective April 6.
World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE:WWE) plunged 21.5% on Friday after both co-presidents, George Barrios and Michelle Wilson announced they are leaving their roles as well as the board of directors. While the company is searching for a new CFO and chief revenue officer, Frank A. Riddick III will serve as acting CFO and will report to Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO.
Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell is long AMZN, ROKU and AAPL.