The markets were back and forth today as new home sales came in weaker than expected, and Fed chairwoman, Janet Yellen spoke. Ultimately the Dow 30 finished lower by 11, now down for r days in a row, the S&P 500 was flat, and the Nasdaq 100 gained 9. Tomorrow investors will be looking at pending home sales along with durable goods orders and crude oil inventories, all of which can be market moving numbers.
Equifax (NYSE: EFX) was back in the news today as it was announced that CEO and chairman Richard Smith is retiring following the company hack that compromised the personal information of 143 million people. After running the credit reporting agency for 12 years, Paulino do Rego Barros, Jr., president of company's Asia Pacific region, has been given the job as interim CEO. Shares were higher on the day by 0.96%, and have recovered over 16% of the declines caused by the hack.
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares bounced 0.96% today as the company announced it will "supply it's AI hardware to major tech giants, including Huawei and Lenovo." Making an appearance on financial media, the company's CEO called AI "the most important technology development of our time." The company also took the opportunity to announce other products that will assist with self-driving cars, robots and cloud computing. Shares are higher by almost 75% on the year.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) shares were one of the big losers today as the owner of Olive Garden and other restaurant chains announced same store sales that came in weaker than what Wall Street had anticipated. On the bright side, earnings were as expected and revenue was better than expectations. Shares were lower by 5.43% today, but are holding on to gains of almost 10% for the year.