Post-Bell | U.S. Stocks Close Lower; Opendoor Surges 11%; Intel Jumps 9%; Tesla Drops 4%; Oracle Sinks 6%

U.S. stocks ended moderately lower on Thursday, with most S&P 500 sectors down as economic data increased uncertainty over the outlook for interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

Market Snapshot

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 173.96 points, or 0.38%, to 45,947.32, the S&P 500 lost 33.25 points, or 0.50%, to 6,604.72 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 113.16 points, or 0.50%, to 22,384.70.

Market Movers

Intel, Apple - Intel rose 8.9% after Bloomberg reported the chip maker approached Apple to ask for an investment. The report, which cited people familiar with the matter, said the two tech giants also have discussed how to work more closely together. The talks have been at an early stage and may not lead to an agreement, the people told Bloomberg. Intel declined to comment to Barron’s about the report, while Apple didn’t respond to requests for comment. Apple was up 1.8%.

Tesla - Tesla stock plunged 4.4% on Thursday, after data showed that its sales results in Europe were still struggling. The move followed the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association’s (ACEA) release of sales data for August. Tesla sold 8,220 vehicles in the European Union, down 37% year over year.

Oracle - Oracle declined 5.6% to $291.33 after the database-software company sold $18 billion of new investment-grade bonds on Wednesday, up from initial guidance of $15 billion. Proceeds from the bonds have been earmarked for general corporate purposes, which could include spending on artificial-intelligence infrastructure. Separately, Rothschild analyst Alex Haissl issued aSell ratingon the stock with a $175 price target, arguing that investors have been “overestimating the value of Oracle’s contracted cloud revenue.”

Alibaba - U.S.-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba fell 0.6%. The stock closed up 8.2% on Wednesday to $176.44, its highest close since Oct. 22, 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Boosting the stock was an announcement that Alibaba would be opening new data centers abroad and hike spending on artificial intelligence.

CarMax - CarMax sank 20% after the used-car seller reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings. The company posted earnings of 64 cents a share, well below Wall Street’s consensus call for $1.04. Same-store retail unit sales fell 6.3% from a year earlier, short of analysts’s forecast for 1.1% growth.

IBM - IBM gained 5.2%. HSBC said it had used quantum computers from IBM to predict the future behavior of financial markets. Researchers showed how an algorithm used to predict whether a bond trade would be filled saw a 34% reduction in errors compared with classical-only methods.

Opendoor - Opendoor Technologies climbed 10.5% to $9.09 after Jane Street, the quantitative trading firm, disclosed a stake of 5.9% in the online homebuying platform.

Accenture - Consulting company Accenture reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $3.03 a share, topping analysts’ expectations of $2.98. Revenue of $17.6 billion beat estimates of $17.4 billion. Bookings of $21.3 billion were up sequentially from $20.9 billion and up from $20.1 billion in the same period a year earlier. Bookings attributed to generative AI offerings rose to $1.8 billion from $1.5 billion in the previous quarter and $1 billion in the year-earlier period. Shares fell 2.7%.

Jabil - Jabil fell 6.7%, even as the supplier of electronic parts beat fiscal fourth-quarter earnings estimates and issued a better-than-expected outlook for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan - Freeport-McMoRan tumbled 6.2% on Thursday, extending losses from Wednesday, when it closed down 17%. The company reduced itsthird-quarter sales estimatesfor copper and gold by 4% and 6%, respectively, due to a temporary suspension in mining operations and damage to infrastructure at a copper and gold mine in Indonesia.

Lithium Americas - Lithium Americas surged 22.6%. Shares of the Vancouver-based miner soared 96% on Wednesday on news the U.S. government was in negotiations to take a stake in the company. It was the stock’s largest one-day percentage increase on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The U.S. proposed an equity stake inLithium Americasas a way to renegotiate a $2.3 billion Energy Department loan granted during the Biden administration.

H.B. Fuller - Adhesives maker H.B. Fuller was down 3.9%. The company said it expects fiscal-year revenue to fall 2% to 3% on the heels of a 2.8% drop in third-quarter revenue. H.B. Fuller also anticipates fiscal-year adjusted earnings of $4.10 to $4.25 a share, with the top end of its range down from the $4.30 a share outlook the company issued in June.

Market News

Trump Signs Order Declaring TikTok Sale Ready and Values It at $14 Billion

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday declaring that his plan to sell TikTok's U.S. operations to U.S. and global investors will address the national security requirements in a 2024 law.

The new U.S. company will be valued at around $14 billion, Vice President JD Vance said, putting a price tag on the popular short video app far below some analyst estimates.

Trump has delayed enforcement of the law that bans the app unless its Chinese owners sell it until December 16 amid efforts to extract TikTok's U.S. assets from the global platform, line up American and other investors and win approval from the Chinese government.

Trump Says US Will Impose New Tariffs on Heavy Trucks, Drugs and Kitchen Cabinets

US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a new round of punishing tariffs, saying the United States will impose a 100% tariffs on imported branded drugs, 25% tariff on imports of all heavy-duty trucks and 50% tariffs on kitchen cabinets.

Trump also said he would start charging a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture next week.