What's moving markets today: May 24, 2019

By CNN Business

Updated 5:18 p.m. ET, May 24, 2019
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4:14 p.m. ET, May 24, 2019

Dow declines for the 5th straight week -- its longest slump since 2011

From CNN Business' Matt Egan

The US-China trade war has delivered Wall Street a five-week losing streak.

The Dow declined 0.6% this week, marking its fifth straight weekly decline. That’s the longest slump since June 2011. (Fun fact: The Dow's 178.31- point dip this week was oddly similar to last week's 178.37- point loss).

The broader markets suffered deeper losses, with the Nasdaq tumbling 2.3% and the S&P 500 sliding 1.1%.

Trade concerns eased a bit on Friday, lifting the Dow 95 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq inched up 0.1% apiece.

US oil prices rose 1.2% to $58.63 a barrel, marking a slight rebound from their worst day since Christmas Eve. Still, oil fell nearly 7% for the week, its worst in five months.

Foot Locker (FL) plunged 16% after it posted results that missed estimates. Tesla (TSLA) dropped another 2.5%, finishing at its lowest point since December 2016.

2:09 p.m. ET, May 24, 2019

JPMorgan takes a buzzsaw to its GDP estimate

From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky

Economists at JPMorgan (JPM) have cut their second-quarter GDP estimates to 1% — down from its previous estimates of 2.25%.

Here's their reasoning, according to a newly released note:

The April durable goods report was bad, particularly the details relating to capital goods orders and shipments. Coming on the heels of last week’s crummy April retail sales report, it suggests second quarter activity growth is sharply downshifting from the first quarter pace."
12:56 p.m. ET, May 24, 2019

Uber and Lyft's stocks are flops. A banker explains why

From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky

Uber and Lyft's stocks have had disappointing debuts, to put it mildly:

The high-profile flops demonstrate the need for money-losing companies to do a much better job explaining how they'll eventually make money, according to Carter Mack, president and co-founder of JMP Group, told CNN Business' Matt Egan.

There was so much noise and hype that it was hard for them to live up to," said Mack.

Read more about what bankers are saying about the stocks here.

12:31 p.m. ET, May 24, 2019

Markets are still in positive territory

From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky

US markets are still up, but they gave up some gains from the open:

The Dow 30 has more stocks in the green than the red.

Boeing (BA) gave up some of its gains after a Bloomberg report said the SEC is investigating whether the company properly disclosed issues with the Boeing 737 Max. A Reuters report earlier said the troubled plane could fly as early as June.

Foot Locker (FL) is still getting clobbered after cutting its guidance. The stock is down 16.5%.

11:44 a.m. ET, May 24, 2019

Uber's first 'earnings' report out on May 30

From CNN Business' Paul R. La Monica

To say that Uber's IPO was a bit of a flop is putting it mildly. Shares fell on their first day of trading -- and at a current level of around $40.50, the stock is still 10% below its offering price.

Now Uber (UBER) will have another chance to convince Wall Street that it's worth all the hype when it reports first quarter results on May 30. Problem is, the numbers may not be pretty.

Sure, Uber is expected to report revenue of more than $3 billion, according to Refinitiv. That's a healthy increase of nearly 18% from a year ago. But analysts are also forecasting a LOSS of more than $1 billion, or $1.33 a share.

That's in line with the guidance that Uber provided to investors just before the IPO -- when the company said it expected sales between $3 billion and $3.1 billion and a loss of $1 billion to $1.1 billion.

Uber is spending a lot to combat rival Lyft (LYFT), which also posted a big loss in the first quarter following its own IPO. Lyft's shares tanked on the news. The stock is now down more than 20% from its offering price.

10:05 a.m. ET, May 24, 2019

Chipotle's stock is trading near its all-time high

From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky

Chipotle (CMG) is very appetizing to investors. The stock has soared nearly 55% this year, making it the fourth-best performer in the S&P 500.

This year's stock pop also follows a 57% gain last year.

Our Paul R. La Monica notes that the company has "done so well that it's now trading at about $667 — just 12% below the all-time high of about $759 that it hit in August 2015 just before the E. coli outbreak."

So, can anything stop Chipotle? Read Paul's take here.

9:56 a.m. ET, May 24, 2019

Top Chinese chipmaker is leaving the NYSE

From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky

A top Chinese chipmaker is leaving the New York Stock Exchange.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMI) announced Friday it will delist its shares from the index because of "limited trading volume." The stock's last day of trading will be around June 13.

The move comes amid trade tensions between the United States and China and the latter cracking down on Chinese technology.

The stock fell 5% in early trading.

9:42 a.m. ET, May 24, 2019

Stocks jump at the open. But the Dow is still down for the week

From CNN Business' Matt Egan

Trade war fear has been replaced by trade war optimism. For the moment, at least.

  • The Dow rose 170 points, or 0.7%
  • The S&P 500 advanced 0.7%
  • And the Nasdaq climbed nearly 1%

Traders remain glued to the latest headlines on the US-China trade war, which has escalated dramatically in recent weeks. President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested Huawei could be used as a bargaining chip in a broader trade deal with China.

The solid open allowed the Dow to recover more than half of Thursday’s 286-point drop. However, the Dow remains on track to post a fifth straight weekly decline. That would be the longest weekly losing streak since June 2011. 

US oil prices climbed 1.5% to $58.80 a barrel, marking a modest rebound from the recent plunge. Crude plummeted nearly 6% on Thursday, its worst day in five months, on trade war and supply glut worries.

Foot Locker (FL) plunged 18% after posting steady sales growth that failed to meet expectations.   

8:28 a.m. ET, May 24, 2019

Amazon at $3,000? Piper Jaffray thinks so

From CNN Business' Paul R. La Monica

Amazon (AMZN) is currently worth a little less than $900 billion. But one very bullish analyst thinks the Jeff Bezos-led company could have a market value of nearly $1.5 TRILLION within the next few years.

Piper Jaffray's Michael Olson said in a report Friday that Amazon's stock could climb to $3,000 a share within the next two to three years. That's an increase of nearly 65% from current levels. Olson is bullish on Amazon's massive AWS cloud business and also cited the fact that its advertising business is rapidly growing.

But perhaps the most amazing thing about this call? Olson thinks it will happen if Amazon pretty much just continues to do what it has been for the past few years -- and even if growth in its core online retail business keeps slowing.

We have a high degree of confidence that AMZN shares can reach this level with no major acquisitions or other significant changes to the business," Olson wrote.

Amazon did top $1 trillion in market value last year before its stock pulled back. It's currently second only to Microsoft (MSFT) in market cap and slightly ahead of Apple (AAPL). Both of them also briefly passed the trillion dollar mark in the past year. And Google owner Alphabet (GOOGL) isn't far behind. It's worth about $800 billion.