Stocks mixed as Facebook gets slammed

Traders
work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after
the opening bell in New York
Thomson
Reuters

Stocks were mixed Thursday after Facebook took a historic tumble
post-earnings and as markets digested the possibility of cooling
trade tensions between the US and the European Union. The dollar
and Treasury yields jumped ahead of US GDP data out Friday.

Here’s the scoreboard:

Dow Jones industrial
average:
 25,528.79 +114.69
(+0.45%)

S&P
500:
 2,836.86 −9.21 (-0.32%)

1. President Donald Trump and European Commission
   President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to work toward
   resolving a multi-billion dollar trade dispute.
   But analysts remain
   cautious.
2. The European Central Bank
   held its benchmark rate unchanged at a policy
   meeting. The ECB’s decision to maintain a rate of
   -0.4% comes in contrast to a Federal Reserve that looks poised
   to hike two more times this year, driving a larger wedge
   between the monetary policies of the two largest central banks
   in the world.
3. The US goods
   trade deficit jumped 5.5% in June to $68.3
   billion. It had narrowed in April and May as
   foreign markets stocked up on American goods that were about to
   be hit by tariffs. Separate data out Thursday showed
   new orders for durable goods increased by a
   less-than-expected 1% last month.
4. Facebook posts
   the largest
   drop in stock-market history. The social
   media giant shed $120 billion in market cap after it
   reported slowing growth Wednesday.

And a look at the upcoming economic calendar: 

• Amazon
  reports earnings after the bell; Twitter
  is out at the end of the week.
• US GDP numbers are out.

See also:

Goldman Sachs breaks down the
damage a trade war could cause in the stock market and 2 ways
investors can protect themselves