The stock market drifted Thursday and ended up much where it started following some unnerving profit forecasts from Walmart and Cisco Systems, per the AP:
- The S&P 500 ticked up 5 points to 4,508 and remains comfortably on its way to a third straight winning week.
- The Dow fell 45 points to 34,945, snapping a four-day win streak, per CNBC.
- The Nasdaq rose 9 points to 14,113.
Walmart dropped 8.1% after it warned that shoppers began pulling back on spending late last month. It also gave a forecast for upcoming holiday profit that was weaker than analysts expected. The nation's largest retailer's stock fell even though it reported results for the latest quarter that edged past Wall Street's expectations. Cisco tumbled 11.5% even though it also reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts estimated. The company saw a slowdown of new product orders last quarter, and it gave forecasts for earnings this upcoming quarter and fiscal year that were weaker than analysts expected.
Stocks in the oil-and-gas industry were also particularly weak after the price of crude tumbled sharply to its lowest since July. ConocoPhillips dropped 3%, and Chevron fell 1.9%. On the winning side of Wall Street was Macy's, which jumped 4.6% after delivering a surprising profit for the latest quarter. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.44% from 4.54% late Wednesday. Just last month, it was above 5% at its highest level since 2007 and raising worries on Wall Street as it undercut prices for stocks and other investments.
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