The major indexes suffered sharp losses in early-morning trading Thursday as Tesla (TSLA) led a drop among automakers and wood products firms paced the downside. But commodity stocks, including steel, concrete, coal and gold mining, bucked the decline.
X
Meanwhile, Apple (AAPL) acted stingy in giving back a tiny portion of Wednesday’s strong gain, a good sign for the bulls. The megacap tech is still standing tall after an excellent breakout back on Jan. 6, 2017. The stock is trading near all-time highs and is forming a potential new base.
Earlier this week the iPhone giant reported a 30% jump in fiscal second-quarter earnings to $2.73 a share, the biggest jump in 10 quarters, as revenue grew 16%, marking a sixth quarter in a row of top-line acceleration.
At around 10:15 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq sank nearly 0.9%. The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 lost around 1%. Volume is running sharply higher on the Nasdaq vs. the same time Wednesday and lower on the NYSE.
Tesla gapped down 6% to 282.90 in huge volume after reporting a loss of $3.35 a share. Sales grew 26% to $3.41 billion, the smallest gain in eight quarters. The stock had made a run toward its falling 50-day moving average on Wednesday but then retreated ahead of Q1 results issued after the close.
Going back to Apple, the stock is possibly forming the right side of a shallow double-bottom base. The middle peak between the two lows of the base is 178.94. Hence, a new buy point would be 179.04, 10 cents above that middle peak.
The new base began after Apple hit an all-time peak of 183.50 on March 13.
The Street expects Apple’s earnings turnaround to keep shining bright.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect profit to climb 30% in the June-ending fiscal third quarter to $2.17 a share.
Elsewhere, oil and gas stocks advanced smartly as the rally in crude oil futures show no signs of abating.
Marathon Oil (MRO) rallied more than 5% to 19.37, surpassing an 18.76 buy point in a 13-week cup with handle. The 5% buy zone extends up to 19.70.
The integrated oil and gas firm posted earnings of 18 cents a share in Q1, reversing a 13-cent net loss in the year-ago quarter. Sales boomed 62% to $1.73 billion.
RELATED:
Stocks Near A Buy Zone
Top Growth Stocks Today: A Peek Inside The IBD 50
