Dow down more than 200 points as hectic week of earnings comes to a close

What’s driving the market?

Investors were sifting through earnings, including blockbuster results from Amazon.com and disappointing user numbers from Twitter Inc. The past week’s earnings deluge included largely positive results from the world’s largest technology companies.

With just over a half of S&P 500 index companies reporting earnings for the quarter so far, about 87% beat market expectations, the highest level in recent years, according to Refinitiv.

“A key message from many of these tech firms is that the world is moving again, with businesses investing in areas like technology and advertising, and consumers spending,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, in a note. “This is fine for now but come summer and the market will be looking into 2022 and beyond and thinking more seriously about interest rate hikes following the economic recovery. That threatens to test investors’ optimism,” he said.

But analysts said signs of weaker manufacturing and services activity in China and recession in Europe contributed to a softer tone.

China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index declined to 51.1 in April from 51.9 in March, according to data released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics. The reading was much lower than the 51.6 median forecast expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal, but remained above the 50 level, marking an expansion in activity.

The eurozone economy shrank at the beginning of 2021 for the second consecutive quarter, entering its second technical recession in a year. The dip wasn’t a surprise due to the pandemic, with growth expected to rebound as European countries get a better grip on vaccine distribution.

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However, U.S. personal income jumped by 21.1% in March, after a 7.1% fall in February, while spending surged 4.2%. A core reading of personal consumption and expenditure, or PCE, inflation rose 0.4% in March for a 1.8% year-over-year rise. The employment cost index showed that wages rose 1% in the first quarter and 2.7% over the past year.

The Chicago business barometer, also known as the PMI, climbed to 72.1 this month from 66.3 in March, according to MNI.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index rose to 88.3 this month from a preliminary 86.5 reading, its highest since the start of the pandemic.

Which companies are in focus?

• Amazon.com Inc.
  AMZN,
  +1.07%
  shares rose 1,`% after the company late Thursday announced a second consecutive quarter of more than $100 billion in sales and predicted a third on the way.
• European Union regulators accused Apple Inc.
  AAPL,
  -0.20%
  of abusing its dominant position in the music-streaming market by imposing restrictive rules on the App Store. Shares were down 0.2%.
• Shares of Twitter Inc.
  TWTR,
  -13.40%
  tumbled nearly 13% after the social-media platform reported increased quarterly revenue on the strength of ad sales, but saw its user numbers fall short of expectations.
• U.S. Steel Corp.
  X,
  +2.82%
  reported sales slightly below expectations and swung to a GAAP profit. Shares of the steelmaker erased an early decline to rise 5.6%.
• KLA Corp.
  KLAC,
  -2.65%
  shares were down 1.7%, after the low end of the company’s earnings outlook range fell short of Wall Street’s average estimate even though results for the quarter beat expectations. The company makes the instruments that foundries use to fabricate the silicon wafers that are manufactured into chips.
• Chevron Corp.
  CVX,
  -2.95%
  shares were 2.7% lower after the oil and gas giant on Friday reported a first-quarter profit that topped expectations but revenue that came up short, amid continued weakness in downstream volume and margin due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Winter Storm Uri.
• Exxon Mobil Corp.
  XOM,
  -1.84%
  shares were off 1.4% after the oil giant on Friday reported a first-quarter adjusted profit and revenue that beat Wall Steet expectations, boosted by higher commodity prices and actions to cut costs.
• General Electric Co.
  GE,
  -0.42%
  disclosed Friday that it sold off more of the Baker Hughes Co.
  BKR,
  -2.00%
  shares it owned, likely raising nearly $1 billion. GE shares were down 0.2%, while Baker Hughes fell 1%.

What are other markets doing?

• The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
  TMUBMUSD10Y,
  1.639%
  was down 0.3 basis point at 1.64%. Yields and bond prices move in opposite directions.
• The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
  DXY,
  +0.67%,
  a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, rose 0.5%.
• Oil futures were under pressure, with the U.S. benchmark
  CL00,
  -2.88%
  down 2.1% at $63.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures
  GC00,
  +0.15%
  flipped between small gains and losses around the $1,770-an-ounce level.
• The Stoxx Europe 600
  SXXP,
  -0.12%
  was up 0.1%, while London’s FTSE 100
  UKX,
  +0.39%
  rose 0.5%. The Hang Seng Index
  HSI,
  -1.97%
  fell 2% in Hong Kong, while the Shanghai Composite
  SHCOMP,
  -0.81%
  and Japan’s Nikkei 225
  NIK,
  -0.83%
  each fell 0..8%.