Thursday's early afternoon trade: wall Street falls as Netflix adds to earnings jitters

Wall Street's main indexes were set for their third day of losses on Thursday, as Netflix reported a surprise fall in US subscribers in a downbeat start to results from high-growth companies. Shares of the streaming pioneer tumbled 11.1% to their lowest since late-January at $321.84, as the company also missed targets for new subscribers overseas at a time when it has staked its future on global expansion.
Losses in Netflix triggered a 1.58% fall in the communication services sector, one of the best-performing S&P sectors so far this year. Technology giant Microsoft Corp slipped 0.8% ahead of its results after markets close.
"The stock market seems to be running out of energy," said John Augustine, chief investment officer of Huntington Private Bank in Columbus, Ohio. "Earnings have met expectations but companies are being cautious about future quarters, which is something that's not able to keep the S&P 500 above the 3,000 level."
As second-quarter earnings rolled in this week, the three main Wall Street indexes retreated slightly from record highs and are set for their steepest weekly fall in seven weeks. Investors are looking for concrete developments in trade talks between the United States and China, while they await the Federal Reserve's policy meeting at the end of July where the central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates.
At 12:08 pm. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 105.12 points, or 0.39%, at 27,114.73 and the S&P 500 was down 6.64 points, or 0.22%, at 2,977.78. The Nasdaq Composite was down 38.16 points, or 0.47%, at 8,147.04. Among positive earnings reports, tobacco company Philip Morris climbed 8.3% after raising its full-year profit outlook, while railroad operator Union Pacific Corp jumped 4.2% after reporting a profit beat.
International Business Machines Corp rose 3.8% as its quarterly profit beat on strong growth in its high-margin cloud business. Morgan Stanley rose 0.7% after posting a better-than-expected quarterly profit and wrapped up earnings from big US banks. The bank-subsector was up 0.73% after three days of losses.