US open: Mixed trading ahead of Trump's meeting with Juncker

Wall Street trading began on a mixed note on Wednesday as investors sifted through earnings reports and eyed a key meeting between Donald Trump and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

As of 1648 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1% to 25,207.26, while the S&P 500 edged up 0.1% to 2,823.62 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.4% to 7,873.

The meeting between Trump and Juncker, due to take place at the White House around 1830 BST, comes after the US administration decided to impose tariffs on all imported European cars.

The President's social media output ahead of the meeting was doing little to calm nerves. "Tariffs are the greatest!" was one of his tweeted nuggets, while he also tweeted that the US and the EU should drop all tariffs, barriers and subsidies. "That would finally be called Free Market and Fair Trade!"

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said, "Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs on the European car industry which would disproportionately hit Germany and is likely factoring into businesses less optimistic outlook."

"It will be interesting to see if anything can be achieved during Jean-Claude Juncker's visit to Washington today, with the European Commission President hoping to convince Trump to drop plans to impose tariffs on the EU, something I am not hopeful he will be able to achieve," he added.

Following Facebook and Alphabet pushing the Nasdaq into fresh highs a day earlier, US earnings remain a core driver of market sentiment as we progress through the week, said IG's Chris Beauchamp. "However, with the tech index remaining flat in early trade today, the focus is clearly shifting onto manufacturers, where the physical nature of their products are more likely to reflect strained trade ties. The early declines in Boeing and General motors highlights the stark contrast that is likely to exist in the US, where trade tariffs drag manufactured goods while services remain relatively unscathed.

"To a large extent Donald Trump’s decision to implement a $12 billion aid package for farms impacted by the recent trade war will be a way to appease many Republicans ahead of the US mid-term elections. However, the fact is that this period of instability is going to damage trade relations, forcing international buyers to source goods elsewhere."

In corporate news, telecoms group AT&T lost 3.19% in early trade after its second-quarter numbers late on Tuesday revealed weaker-than-expected revenue.

Chip maker Texas Instruments dropped 2.41% despite its results and third-quarter outlook beating analysts' expectations.

Boeing dipped 1.80% after its commercial airline revenue and earnings per share fell short of expectations, while UPS expanded 3.47% after beating expectations on the Street.

Carmaker General Motors skidded lower following its earnings announcement and the brakes were put on Ford too a day after it unveiled a $4bn investment in autonomous vehicles through to 2023 in a division that will be spun out into a separate subsidiary.

GM cut its full-year forecasts as it cited higher steel and aluminium as a result of the White House's trade tariffs, with a net impact of around $1bn on up from previous guidance of around $500m. Chief financial officer Chuck Stevens told reporters the automaker had put in a "solid performance" in the second quarter "despite some fairly significant headwinds that have built throughout the year".

Coca-Cola collected 2.28% after it reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations, bolstered by its efforts to push its Diet option to the forefront.

On the tech side, Facebook rebounded up 0.56% and Paypal collected 0.45% ahead of their earnings.

On the earnings season so far, Erlam said: "Investors have been encouraged by the results we’ve seen so far, with lower taxes not the only thing providing a big lift to the bottom line, although they are obviously a considerable contributor."

On the data front, sales of new US single-family homes fell to an eight-month low in June, according to figures released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday.

New home sales fell 5.3% from May's revised level to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 631,000. Economists had been expecting a level of 670,000. Compared to June 2017's rate of 666,000, sales were 2.4% higher.

Meanwhile, the median price of a new home was $302,100, down from $309,700 in May and the average sales price slipped to 363,300 from $365,100 the month before.

Dow Jones - Risers

Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $46.19 2.05%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $76.64 1.48%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $109.15 1.38%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $66.22 1.08%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $42.80 0.96%
3M Co. (MMM) $202.35 0.83%
Visa Inc. (V) $141.04 0.72%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $124.72 0.70%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $63.61 0.30%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $79.21 0.28%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Boeing Co. (BA) $350.53 -2.16%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $199.78 -1.09%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $51.72 -0.88%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $133.07 -0.87%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $87.34 -0.70%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $110.03 -0.61%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $128.59 -0.60%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $234.49 -0.59%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $124.21 -0.43%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $137.49 -0.35%

S&P 500 - Risers

Corning Inc. (GLW) $32.32 8.35%
FLIR Systems Inc. (FLIR) $56.45 7.71%
Waste Management Inc. (WM) $86.21 5.79%
Robert Half International Inc. (RHI) $72.63 5.30%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $38.85 5.27%
Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK) $178.94 4.97%
United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) $117.36 4.38%
Total System Services Inc. (TSS) $94.08 3.88%
Altaba Inc. (AABA) $76.48 3.14%
Amphenol Corp. (APH) $91.60 3.06%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) $297.63 -5.86%
Pentair plc (PNR) $41.88 -5.21%
AutoNation Inc. (AN) $45.77 -5.00%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $15.27 -4.98%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $4.60 -4.96%
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LH) $175.95 -4.62%
AT&T Inc. (T) $30.25 -4.51%
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) $123.31 -4.28%
Navient Corporation (NAVI) $13.50 -4.26%
Borg Warner Inc. (BWA) $42.62 -4.07%