Wednesday’s session ended up being the market’s worst performance for stocks since September. Chatter about a federal government scandal was cited as the reason, though the market has been ripe for a pullback anyway. This is also around the time of year when the “Sell in May” effect truly takes hold. The nature of the reason, however, is irrelevant. The S&P 500’s close of 2,357.03 was 1.82% less that Tuesday’s close, dragging the index below some key technical support levels.
But, that was nothing compared to the pain American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) shareholders suffered on Wednesday.
Here’s the deal.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)
On Tuesday, chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices was one of the market’s hottest stocks, rallying 11% on rumors that it had inked a key deal with Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) and would be confirming it during its meeting with analysts after Tuesday’s close.
As it turns out, the rumor was nothing more than a rumor — Advanced Micro Devices hadn’t signed a deal with Intel (at least not one that it could divulge yet), sending AMD to a loss of 12.1% on Wednesday as disappointed investors shed their shares.
The idea was first floated by tech-news website Fudzilla, with contributor Fuad Abazovic claiming, “We can now confirm the rumours that Intel has given up on Nvidia because it has written a cheque to license AMD’s graphics.” Although the licensing deal between Intel and Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) ended in March and AMD is working with Intel on some other projects, AMD hasn’t been named as a successor to Nvidia yet.
Bank of America Corp (BAC)
All stocks were hit hard today, but banks took on more than their fair share of water. The SPDR KBW Bank ETF (NYSEARCA:KBE) fell to the tune of 4% on Monday. Leading the charge lower, however, was Bank of America. BAC shares logged a loss of 6% for the session.
The prod for the pullback was turmoil in Washington D.C. While investors are no stranger to controversy from the White House, the latest round of it was particularly alarming in that it implicates Trump in what could possibly amount to an obstruction of justice charge. Although most investors don’t see the matter being taken to that extreme, most investors do think the matter could be so distracting to President Trump that he’ll be unable to implement his deregulation and tax-cut agenda anytime soon.
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO)
Finally, American Eagle Outfitters reminded the market today that retailing is presently a miserable business to be in.
In its first fiscal quarter of 2017, American Eagle earned an operating profit of 16 cents per share on sales of $761.8 million. The revenue tally topped estimates of $743.6 million, though the profit reading misses estimates by a penny per share.
The bulk of the 14.7% tumble AEO took today, however, likely stemmed from the retailer’s disappointing second-quarter outlook. American Eagle Outfitters is looking for a profit of between 15 and 17 cents per share for the quarter currently underway, versus analyst estimates for income of 23 cents per share of AEO.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
