Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages trade in a relatively tight range just above session lows, with the DJIA (+0.1%) maintaining a slight gain while the S&P 500 (-0.3%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.4%) widen their losses.

Applied Materials (AMAT 162.96, -25.28, -13.43%) is under pressure today after reporting its Q3 (Jul) results last night. This semicap company stayed true to form, delivering a solid EPS beat of $0.12, with revenue also coming in a good bit above expectations. However, the negative reaction is from its Q4 (Oct) revenue guidance, which was below consensus estimates, reflecting particular weakness in its China business. Additionally, there were several downgrades from analysts (BofA, Summit Insights, DZ bank) this morning.

Industrial production decreased 0.1% month-over-month in July (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%) following an upwardly revised 0.4% increase (from 0.3%) in June. The capacity utilization rate was 77.5% (Briefing.com consensus 77.5%), versus an upwardly revised 77.7% (from 77.6%) in June. Total industrial production increased 1.4% yr/yr, while the capacity utilization rate was 2.1 percentage points below its long-run average.

The key takeaway from the report is that industrial production activity was muted in July, with manufacturing output stalling due to output declining in all nondurable categories