US markets end lower on Friday

02 May 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Friday amid disappointing earnings reports. The steep drop in shares of Amazon came after the company reported weaker than expected first quarter earnings. Shares of Honeywell also came under pressure after the conglomerate reported first quarter earnings that beat estimates but weaker than expected sales. Apple also moved to the downside after the tech giant reported better than expected quarterly results but declined to provide guidance amid uncertainty about the coronavirus pandemic. Further, weakness also prevailed in the markets amid the potential resumption of US-China trade tensions. On the economic data front, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released a report showing manufacturing activity continued to contract in the month of April. The ISM said its purchasing managers index slumped to 41.5 in April from 49.1 in March, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction in manufacturing activity.

The manufacturing index showed a notable decrease compared to the previous month but still came in above street estimates for a reading of 36.9. With the decline, the purchasing managers index dropped to its lowest level since hitting 39.9 in April of 2009. Meanwhile, a separate report released by the Commerce Department showed an unexpected increase in construction spending in the month of March. The Commerce Department said construction spending climbed by 0.9 percent to an annual rate of $1.361 trillion in March after tumbling by 2.5 percent to a revised $1.348 trillion in February. The increase came as a surprise to market participants, who had expected construction spending to plunge by 3.5 percent compared to the 1.3 percent slump originally reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 622.03 points or 2.55 percent to 23,723.69, Nasdaq fell 284.6 points 3.2 percent to 8,604.95 and S&P 500 was down by 81.72 points or 2.81 percent to 2,830.71.

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