The markets started the day off quite strong but news from the Federal Reserve about reducing their balance sheet sent shares lower in the afternoon. The Dow 30 was up triple digits at one point today but completely reversed. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 also started quite strong but reversed as well. Tomorrow traders will have a look at unemployment claims along with a speech from ECB President Draghi just as the markets close.
Walgreens (NYSE: WBA) announced last quarters results today which were mixed overall. While the drug chain announced earnings that were in line with Wall streets expectations, revenue missed forecasts as sales fell more than 2% from a year ago. The company put the blame on "challenging market conditions in Europe and a stronger dollar, which hurt sales outside the US." Shares sold off on the news but technical traders were quick to notice the support around $80 where the decline stopped. For the year shares are slightly lower and have been unable to hold on to any meaningful gains.
Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA) blasted off today when the restaurant chain officially confirmed the rumors that it is being bought by JAB Holdings for about $7.2 billion in cash. Analysts noted that this equals about $315 dollars a share. That's 20% higher than what was expected based on the rumors that began at the end of March.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) continued its breakout move today after news came out that the e-commerce giant would be streaming 10 NFL games on Thursday nights this year. It was reported that this will cost them $50 million, which is almost 5 times more than Twitter (NASDAQ: TWTR) paid for the same package last season. Shares of the stock have been on a sharp move higher since technical traders noted the breakout on March 29th. Since then every day has been a positive one.