US open: Losses at the open as oil prices come off highs
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Monday 12 Nov 2018
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street trading started off with some losses on Monday as oil prices came off their highs and Donald Trump's ongoing war with Silicon Valley weighed on tech stocks.
At 1500 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.70% to 25,806.27, while the S&P 500 had lost 0.64% at 2,763.21 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq traded 1.46% weaker at 7,298.58.
Energy shares were in focus after at the start of the week after Saudi Arabia announced over the weekend that it would cut production by 500,000 barrels a day from next month, initially prompting a big surge in oil prices.
Prices were off their earlier highs around 1500 GMT, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.71% to $60.62 a barrel and Brent crude 0.73% higher at $70.69.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "Oil bears may well have seen the weekend headlines as an opportunity to top up positions, with the OPEC+ meeting at the start of December being of far more significance. As of yet, there doesn't seem to be much of a consensus on whether the market is as oversupplied as recent data suggests, despite the JMMC reporting so over the weekend and indicating that further cuts will be necessary."
Bond markets were closed for trading in observance of Veterans Day, while the dollar jumped 0.33% to its highest level in eighteen months, partly due to expectations for higher US interest rates in the future.
On the corporate front, tobacco company Altria Group was down 2.49% at the open following reports that the US Food and Drug Administration is looking to ban menthol cigarettes.
Elsewhere, Lannett surged 8.29% in early trade after signing an agreement with Amneal Pharmaceuticals for its Levothyroxine Sodium tablets, a treatment for an under-active thyroid.
Amazon shares fell 2.55% despite having its target price raised above $2,000 per share by analysts at Instinet.
Apple shares dropped 4.65% after Lumentum Holdings, which provides technology for the iPhone maker, slashed its revenue and earnings outlook after confirming that "one of its largest" customers "materially" reduced shipments.
Eventbrite shares fell 4.67% and Focus Financial picked up 3.32% ahead of their results.
RBC Capital Markets expects Eventbrite to post third-quarter revenues of $73.8m, slightly above consensus estimates of $71.8m and adjusted EBITDA of $3.5m, above the Street's $3.2m.
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