Stocks slide on Apple's forecast, dollar rebounds

Global equity markets fell on Wednesday, pulled lower by a weak revenue forecast at Apple Inc, the world's largest company, while a rebounding dollar after its biggest decline in a month weighed on gold and some stocks.

Apple shares tumbled 4.5% after the company's fourth-quarter revenue forecast fell short of estimates and it missed some targets for iPhone sales.

The poorly received earnings report hit companies with close ties to Apple. In Europe, chip designer ARM Holdings , a major supplier, tumbled 6.6% and German chipmaker Dialog Semiconductor fell 5.2%.

"Apple is a really big company, and having disappointed a little bit on the sales side of things, does tend to reverberate around the world in technology stocks," said Wouter Sturkenboom, a senior investment strategist at Russell Investments.

 

European tech stocks shed nearly $6 billion of market value, with the STOXX Europe 600 tech index off 1.7%.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York, said there is concern regarding the lack of organic revenue growth and the strong dollar, which will continue to be a drag, but that effect should moderate over time.

US companies are expected to post their worst sales decline in nearly six years in the second quarter, in part due to the strong dollar, which cuts the value of overseas income.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares closed down 0.62% at 1,586.46, while MSCI's all-country world stock index was down 0.69%.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 81.61 points, or 0.46%, to 17,837.68. The S&P 500 slid 5.8 points, or 0.27%, to 2,113.41 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 38.42 points, or 0.74%, to 5,169.70.

The dollar index, a gauge of the greenback against a basket of currencies, extended gains after data showed US home resales hit an 8-1/2-year high in June, and was last up 0.24% at 97.558.

The euro fell 0.26% to $1.0908 >, while the dollar rose 0.11% at 124.01 yen >.

Sterling gained in response to minutes from the Bank of England's last meeting that suggested some policymakers support higher interest rates.

The British pound > rose 0.22% at $1.5594.

Oil prices fell as US crude stockpiles rose last week, remaining high above the five-year seasonal average, while gasoline stocks decreased and distillate inventories rose, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.

Brent crude fell 91 cents to settle at $56.13 a barrel. US crude dipped below $50 a barrel, trading down $1.67 a barrel to settle at $49.19.

Gold fell more than 1% to a five-year low as the bounce in the dollar fuelled downside momentum.

US gold futures for August delivery settled down $12 an ounce at $1,091.50.

Copper prices hit a two-week low as worries about demand from top consumer China mounted. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange closed down 1.7% at $5,360 a tonne.

Benchmark and long-dated Treasury yields hit their lowest levels in nearly two weeks as poor sentiment from US corporate earnings reports drove safe-haven buying. Uncertainty ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting capped gains.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes > were last up 4/32 in price to yield 2.3253%.

"The weakness in the stock market over the last two days has helped push Treasuries prices higher," said Shyam Rajan, US rates strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York.