Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google Are All Down on Tough Day for Tech Stocks Plus, the deteriorating picture on global growth is rattling the stock market.
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The European Central Bank cuts its 2019 growth forecast for the Eurozone from 1.7 percent to 1.1 percent today. That, along with mixed signals on the state of the U.S. economy, is not sitting well with investors.
The major stock indexes fell sharply today, marking the fourth consecutive day of declines this week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index was down the most, falling 1.13 percent. The Dow and S&P 500 indexes lost 0.78 percent and 0.81 percent respectively. The Entrepreneur Index™ was down 1.22 percent. It has declined on three of four days this week.
The technology sector was hit particularly hard, with just two of thirteen tech stocks on the Entrepreneur Index™ posting gains today. The four FAANG stocks on the index were all down sharply, with Amazon.com (-2.56 percent) and Facebook (-2.01 percent) falling furthest. Verisign Inc. was up 0.42 percent and Cognizant Technology rose 1.18 percent after announcing plans to accelerate a share buyback plan.
Wynn Resorts had the biggest decline on the Entrepreneur Index™ today, falling 3.95 percent. The casino-operator, which owns three casinos in Macau, is a good proxy for sentiment on the Chinese economy. While gambling revenues in Macau have so far held up better than expected, a slowing Chinese economy and volatile financial markets may eventually staunch the flow of high rollers into Macau casinos. Wynn shares are up 19.8 percent so far this year but down 29.6 percent in the last twelve months.
Fedex, another stock sensitive to global economic growth, was down 2.99 percent and has fallen 35 percent from its 52-week high set last June. Drug-makers Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, both down big yesterday, also fell 3.33 percent and 2.25 percent respectively today.
Other notable declines on the Entrepreneur Index™ today included Jefferies Financial Group (-3.38 percent), Universal Health Services (-2.49 percent) and asset managers Franklin Resources (-1.98 percent) and BlackRock (-1.55 percent).
Homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. had the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index™ today, rising 3.6 percent. The housing market has been hard to read this year, but investors may now be rewarding the company's lack of exposure to global economies.
The same might be said of Dollar Tree Inc., which operates roughly 15,000 discount retail stores in the U.S. and Canada. The stock was up 2.8 percent today on top of a more than five percent jump yesterday when the company announced it would close or renovate approximately 1400 of its Family Dollar stores.
Brown-Forman Corp. gained 1.88 percent today after falling more than five percent yesterday. The maker of Jack Daniels reported good financial results yesterday but warned that its near-term outlook was uncertain due to increased tariffs levied on its products in fast-growing foreign markets.
The Entrepreneur Index™ collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on Entrepreneur.com.
