Stock market news for July 19, 2024

Stocks concluded Friday’s session in the red.

The Dow lost more than 370 points, or 0.9%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite shed about 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively.

The Dow was the only of the three major indexes to register gains this week, adding 0.7%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped about 2% and 3.7%, respectively.

— Alex Harring

Bank of America analyst Justin Post said Amazon made fewer disclosures in its Prime Day press release on Thursday, including the use 15% fewer words in the statement. That said, Post expects a “successful” Prime Day supports the outlook for Amazon’s third quarter.

The analyst said he is “constructive” on Amazon’s second-quarter e-commerce sales, but expects a profit beat will be needed during the quarter to meet investor expectations. Shares have declined more than 6% this week.

One of the missing details from this year’s release was color around how much customers saved during the two-day sales event, Post said. This year’s release said it was “billions,” but last year Amazon claimed its shoppers saved more than $2.5 billion, he said.

CNBC Pro reported that it is shaping up to be a very promotional back-to-school shopping season. Adobe Analytics, which looked at Amazon’s Prime Day and competing events on Tuesday and Wednesday, said online discounts peaked at 23% off for electronics, which was deeper than the average 14% markdown in 2023. Still, that observation doesn’t include sales that Walmart and Target hosted the prior week or and event Wayfair has coming up.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

Strategas is still positive on the economy and the market as inflation improves and earnings broaden out.

While there have been some sights of weakness in economic growth, there has been little follow through in the market, said Nicholas Bohnsack, Strategas co-founder and president and chief operating officer of Strategas Securities.

Plus, politics has finally reached its high season and it will be a “quick sprint to Election Day when the smoke clears,” Bohnsack wrote in a note Thursday.

The firm’s focus is on the fundamentals and it remains modestly overweight equities, with a preference for international markets.

“From a tactical perspective July and August would appear a good opportunity to take stock of the current fundamental environment, resist the temptation to (over)react to every ebb-and-flow of the political discourse and, ultimately, focus-in on the areas of thematic momentum that are likely to carry through year-end and into 2025,” Bohnsack said.

— Michelle Fox

President Joe Biden is under increasing pressure to drop out of the the 2024 election, with polls showing him trailing Donald Trump and fundraising money slowing. NBC News reported Friday that members of the Biden family were discussing a potential exit, citing two sources familiar with the talks.

If Biden does drop out, that could case throw a wrench in the so-called “Trump trade,” at least temporarily.

We could see a stalling out of the recent ‘Trump trade’ as the market reassesses the race, but we do not see a broader market reaction,” Raymond James Washington policy analyst Ed Mills said in a note to clients on Thursday evening.

— Jesse Pound

Mega-cap technology stocks continued to drag the Dow lower this week, with Magnificent Seven names making up some of the index’s biggest losers.

Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, Apple and Salesforce were five out of the Dow’s six biggest losers. Amazon is on pace for a 6% drop, while Intel and Microsoft have slipped around 4%. Apple and Salesforce could end the week with a 3% loss.

Sixteen of the Dow’s 30 constituents are poised to end this week with a gain. UnitedHealth Group easily led the pack, having notched a nearly 11% advancement this week. Caterpillar, Chevron, Johnson & Johnson and JPMorgan Chase are all up around 3%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

With the U.S. dollar index up nearly 3% in 2024, UBS says investors should start selling dollar rallies.

The dollar is currently hovering at levels last seen in the early 2000s and mid-1980s in real trade-weighted terms, according to strategist Sagar Khandelwal. He believes if depreciation pressures or fiscal deficit fears rise, the dollar could weaken in the long term.

“We believe investors should use periods of near-term dollar strength to reduce dollar exposure or to engage in volatility selling strategies to generate…