Dow Index Tumbles as Chevron, Exxon Tumble
New York (Feb 2) Stocks sank to session lows by mid-afternoon Tuesday as crude oil continued its relentless slide. The S&P 500 was down 1.9%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.8%, or 300 points, and the Nasdaq tumbled 2.1%.
Crude oil prices fell again as worries over oversupply and weaker demand persisted, while hopes for a production cut deal between Russia and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries -- which spiked last week -- began to fade. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 4.4% to $30.22 a barrel. Prices slumped 6% a day earlier as weaker data from China exacerbated worries over demand for crude oil.
Earnings from BP (BP - Get Report) weren't helping matters after the energy giant reported its worst annual loss in 20 years. Fourth-quarter earnings plunged 91% because of sharp declines in oil prices. The company also announced 3,000 job cuts globally by the end of 2017. Shares were down 7.7%.
Exxon Mobil (XOM - Get Report) shares were weighed down by BP, despite the energy company beating its own quarterly forecasts. Earnings fell 58%, though adjusted profit of 67 cents a share beat by 4 cents. Revenue fell by one-third to $59.81 billion, but came in above expectations. Exxon shares fell 2.3%.
The rest of the energy sector wasn't faring much better. Chevron (CVX) weighed on the Dow, while PetroChina (PTR) , Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) , Total (TOT) and Schlumberger (SLB) fell. The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) slid 2.8%.
Alphabet (GOOGL - Get Report) shares jumped more than 2% after reporting profit at its core Internet businesses, which include search and YouTube, rose 13.5% to $75.54 billion in 2015. Overall revenue in the fourth quarter increased 18%, while adjusted earnings of $8.67 a share beat estimates by 58 cents. Alphabet was neck and neck with Apple (AAPL) as the most valuable company in the world.
"Last night's call on Alphabet gave every growth stock manager goose bumps," Cramer wrote. "That's because it had accelerated revenue growth, or ARG, as I like to call it, at the same time that it had ratcheted back expenses."
Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) exceeded estimates for U.S. car sales in January with overall unit sales up 7%. Analysts had expected flat growth last month. Ford (F - Get Report) reported a 2.6% decline in sales last month, though that was half the drop analysts had expected. General Motors (GM) total sales in January rose 0.5%.
UBS (UBS) tumbled after the Swiss bank warned of "very low levels of client activity and pronounced risk aversion" in its recent quarter. The company beat quarterly earnings estimates, though only after its guidance had been lowered due to restructuring and accounting changes.
Tesla (TSLA) was down 7% after Pacific Crest Securities issued a bearish call on the stock. Analysts reiterated a sector-weight rating and said fiscal 2015 losses will come in higher than expected after weaker channel checks suggested disappointing final-quarter sales.
Twitter (TWTR) slumped 10% after Stifel analysts downgraded the stock to sell from hold. Analysts said slowing user growth and Facebook's dominance in social-network advertising led to the downgrade. Stifel set a price target of $14.
By 3pm EST All US stock indices were down more than 2% with increasing volume.
Source: TheStreet
