Asian shares are mostly higher after Wall Street’s rally loses steam
On Wall Street, CarMax tumbled 20.1% after the seller of used autos reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It sold fewer vehicles during the quarter than it had a year earlier. It also was hurt because it increased its expectations for losses from loans made in earlier years.
Jabil fell 6.7% even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, thanks in part to demand coming because of artificial intelligence. It also gave forecasts for upcoming revenue and profit that topped analysts’ expectations.
Such moves typically send a stock’s price higher, but Jabil came into the day with an already huge gain of 56.6% for the year so far. That was more than quadruple the S&P 500’s rise over the same time.
Another AI winner, Oracle, gave back 5.6%. Earlier this month, it surged to its best day since 1992 after announcing several big contracts signed because of AI.
Starbucks slipped 0.5% after the coffee chain announced a $1 billion plan to restructure, including the closure of stores and the cutting of 900 nonretail jobs.
On the winning side of Wall Street was IBM. It rose 5.2% after HSBC announced a promising trial with IBM of quantum computing in hopes of improving bond trading. The bank said they delivered an improvement of up to 34% in predicting how likely a trade would be filled at a quoted price.
Companies are racing to develop quantum computing in order to solve complex problems beyond the reach of classical computers.
KB Home swung between gains and losses after the homebuilder reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Jeffrey Mezger said he was encouraged to see mortgage rates ease through the quarter, which could encourage more potential customers to buy homes.
Mortgage rates have been sinking on expectations for coming cuts to rates by the Fed. KB Home’s stock finished the day with a dip of 0.6%.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 33.25 points to 6,604.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 173.96 to 45,947.32, and the Nasdaq composite sank 113.16 to 22,384.70.
In stock markets abroad, indexes dipped in Europe following modest moves across much of Asia.
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AP Writers Matt Ott and Teresa Cerojano contributed.
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