>>> US Close Dow +0.07% S&P 0.13%. Nasdaq +0.64% Russell +0.12%

Closing Market Summary: Wall Street Ends Three-Day Slide

The stock market's three-day slide came to an end on Friday, but just barely, as the S&P 500 (+0.1%) eked out a narrow victory. The Dow (+0.1%) finished in line with the benchmark index while the Nasdaq outperformed, advancing 0.6%. For the week, the S&P 500 lost 1.4%.

Geopolitical tensions continued to linger on Friday, pushing both European and Asian markets lower and keeping gains on Wall Street in check. President Trump issued another statement regarding the ongoing situation with North Korea, saying "[m]ilitary solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely."

However, the market's anxiety was obviously dialed back a bit as the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 15.52, -0.52) declined 3.2%, retreating from the four-month high it posted on Thursday. Conversely, U.S. Treasuries moved higher once again, but the rally had more to do with another tepid inflationary reading than with geopolitical concerns.

Both the Consumer Price Index and the core Consumer Price Index, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.1% in July. Those monthly readings were below expectations--the consensus anticipated an increase of 0.2% for both--and left the CPI up 1.7% year-over-year, versus 1.6% in June, and the core CPI up 1.7%, unchanged from June.

The Fed will like that there wasn't any further deterioration in consumer inflation trends, yet with its preferred PCE Price Index up just 1.4% year-over-year in June, today's CPI report isn't going to change the prevailing belief that the Fed will want to take more time to determine if inflation is picking up toward its 2.0% target on a sustained basis.

Treasuries moved higher across the curve, but buying was heaviest at the front end; the 2-yr yield dropped four basis points to 1.29% while the 10-yr yield slipped two basis points to 2.19%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (92.95, -0.35) lost 0.4% as the greenback dropped 0.5% against the euro to 1.1825 and 0.3% against the pound to 1.3019.

As for the equity market, the S&P 500's most influential sectors--technology (+0.8%) and financials (-0.5%)--battled each other from opposite ends of the leaderboard. The tech group benefited from broad strength with mega-cap names like Apple (AAPL 157.48, +2.16) and Microsoft (MSFT 72.50, +1.09) showing particular resolve. The two names advanced 1.4% and 1.5%, respectively.

NVIDIA (NVDA 155.96, -8.78) was one of the few laggards in the tech space, dropping 5.3% despite beating both top and bottom line estimates and raising its revenue guidance for the third quarter. However, the good news was likely priced in ahead of the report as the chipmaker did come into Friday's session with an impressive year-to-date gain of 54.3%.

Elsewhere on the earnings front, Snap (SNAP 11.83, -1.94) plunged 14.1% after reporting worse than expected earnings, revenues, and daily active users. Following Friday's slide, the social media company now sits 59.8% below its all-time high of $29.44 per share, which it posted shortly after its IPO in early March.

In total, five sectors--technology (+0.8%), consumer discretionary (+0.5%), health care (+0.3%), industrials (+0.1%), and consumer staples (+0.1%)--finished in the green while six sectors--energy (-0.7%), utilities (-0.6%), real estate (-0.6%), financials (-0.5%), materials (-0.2%), and telecom services (-0.1%)--finished in the red.

Looking ahead, investors will not receive any economic data of note on Monday.

  • Nasdaq Composite +16.2% YTD
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average +10.6% YTD
  • S&P 500 +9.0% YTD
  • Russell 2000 +1.3% YTD

>>> Baupost Group (Seth Klarman) discloses updated portfolio positi

Baupost Group (Seth Klarman) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: Increased SYF AR QRVO ESRX CAH FWP PRTK positions

Highlights from 2017 Q2 filing as compared to 2017 Q1 filing:
  • New positions in: SRC (~9 mln shares) CAR (~4 mln)
  • Increased positions in: SYF (to ~29.3 mln shares from ~17.67 mln shares), AR (to ~21.17 mln from ~14.51 mln), QRVO (to ~9 mln from ~7.19 mln), ESRX (to ~2.56 mln from ~1.23 mln), CAH (to ~2.03 mln from ~1.03 mln) FWP (to ~6.36 mln from ~5.58 mln), PRTK (to ~2.39 mln from ~2.04 mln)
  • Maintained positions in: CLNS (~47.91 mln shares), LNG (~20.73 mln shares), FOXA (~19.14 mln shares), PBF (~15.72 mln shares), VSAT (~13.16 mln shares), TBPH (~9.27 mln shares), DVMT (~5.65 mln shares), QCOM (~5.22 mln shares), AGN (~2.43 mln shares),
  • Closed positions in: INVA (from ~11.57 mln shares) LVNTA (from ~1.48 mln), MCK (from ~1 mln), SYT (from ~0.53 mln), ABC (from ~0.5 mln)
  • Decreased positions in: BATRK (to ~1.3 mln shares from ~1.99 mln shares), CACC (to ~0.1 mln from ~0.24 mln)

>>> Third Point (Dan Loeb) discloses updated portfolio positions in

Third Point (Dan Loeb) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: Confirms new BABA position, closed out NOMD ENPH ZAYO HK RICE JPM QCOM ERF CRM AA SNAP CE positions

Highlights from 2017 Q2 filing as compared to 2017 Q1 filing:
  • New positions in: BABA (~4.5 mln shares), NXPI (~2.7 mln), FMC (~2 mln), VMC (~1.6 mln), BLK (~1.55 mln), ALXN (~1.25 mln), BMA (~0.9 mln)
  • Increased positions in: PE (to ~4.5 mln shares from ~2.5 mln shares), RSPP (to ~3.85 mln from ~2 mln), BAC (to ~15 mln from ~13.5 mln), HPE (to ~7 mln from ~6 mln), FB (to ~3.5 mln from ~3 mln) GOOGL (to ~0.58 mln from ~0.46 mln), TMUS (to ~5.25 mln from ~5 mln) TWX (to ~3.75 mln from ~3.5 mln),
  • Maintained positions in: DOW (~16 mln shares), BID (~6.66 mln)
  • Closed positions in: NOMD (from ~7 mln shares), ENPH (from ~6.25 mln), ZAYO (from ~6 mln), HK (from ~5.17 mln), RICE (from ~5 mln), JPM (from ~3.75 mln), QCOM (from ~3.5 mln)
  • Decreased positions in: BAX (to ~41 mln shares from ~46 mln shares), STZ (to ~2.5 mln from ~3 mln), CHTR (to ~0.5 mln from ~0.8 mln), HUM (to ~0.75 mln from ~0.93 mln), SHW (to ~0.75 mln from ~0.9 mln)

>>> Meritage Group discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F fil

Meritage Group discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: Closed CMCSA ABBV positions

Highlights from 2017 Q2 filing as compared to 2017 Q1 filing:
  • New positions in: TDG (~0.44 mln shares)
  • Increased positions in: CHTR (to ~2.73 mln shares from ~1.57 mln shares)
  • Maintained positions in: DNKN (~3.89 mln shares), ICE (~3.46 mln shares), V (~2.58 mln shares), SBAC (~2.3 mln shares), SPGI (~1.12 mln shares), MCO (~0.98 mln shares), SHW (~0.81 mln shares), AMZN (~0.24 mln shares), GOOGL (~0.13 mln shares)
  • Closed positions in: CMCSA (from ~2.09 mln shares), ABBV (from ~0.62 mln)
  • Decreased positions in: INFO (to ~4.46 mln shares from ~5.77 mln shares), TPX (to ~1.02 mln from ~1.73 mln), ADSK (to ~0.06 mln from ~0.07 mln)

>>> BP Capital (Boone Pickens) discloses updated portfolio position

BP Capital (Boone Pickens) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New positions in AMGP, PSXP, AA

Highlights from 2017 Q2 filing as compared to 2017 Q1 filing:
  • New positions in: AMGP (~0.2 mln shares), PSXP (~0.18 mln), AA (~0.14 mln), PWR (~0.12 mln), HESM (~0.09 mln)
  • Increased positions in: PUMP (to ~0.36 mln from ~0.06 mln), FET (to ~0.22 mln from ~0.14 mln), PAA (to ~0.16 mln from ~0.11 mln), WPX (to ~0.43 mln from ~0.38 mln) SEP (to ~0.07 mln from ~0.03 mln), RRC (to ~0.19 mln from ~0.15 mln)
  • Maintained positions in: EPD (~0.34 mln shares), WPZ (~0.24 mln shares), MPLX (~0.21 mln shares), WES (~0.13 mln shares)
  • Closed positions in: NR (from ~0.18 mln shares), HZN (from ~0.14 mln), SUN (from ~0.11 mln), AM (from ~0.1 mln), CQH (from ~0.07 mln)
  • Decreased positions in: KMI (to ~0.13 mln shares from ~0.49 mln shares), DKL (to ~0.06 mln from ~0.11 mln), HUN (to ~0.17 mln from ~0.22 mln), SUM (to ~0.09 mln from ~0.13 mln), GT (to ~0.13 mln from ~0.16 mln)

>>> Coatue Management discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F

Coatue Management discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New positions in FTR, ON, SHOP; increased positions in TWLO; closed position in JPM

Highlights from 2017 Q2 filing as compared to 2017 Q1 filing:
  • New positions in: FTR (~7.09 mln shares), ON (~4.9 mln), SHOP (~2.63 mln), NOW (~1.74 mln), TER (~1.32 mln), CRM (~1.09 mln), CGNX (~1.03 mln)
  • Increased positions in: TWLO (to ~1.86 mln shares from ~0.43 mln shares), BABA (to ~5.24 mln from ~4.18 mln)
  • Maintained positions in: SNAP (~21.9 mln shares), SYMC (~17.9 mln shares), JD (~12.57 mln shares), ATVI (~11.91 mln shares)
  • Closed positions in: JPM (from ~2.63 mln shares), ZAYO (from ~2.49 mln), UAA (from ~1.53 mln)
  • Decreased positions in: BAC (to ~13.85 mln shares from ~22.76 mln shares), EBAY (to ~5.39 mln from ~8.1 mln)

>>>Starboard Value (Jeffrey Smith) discloses updated portfolio pos

Starboard Value (Jeffrey Smith) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New FCE.A SRC ILG WBMD PHG positions

Highlights from 2017 Q2 filing as compared to 2017 Q1 filing:
  • New positions in: FCE.A (~4.45 mln shares), SRC (~2 mln), ILG (~0.63 mln), WBMD (~0.43 mln), PHG (~0.05 mln)
  • Increased positions in: HPE (to ~10.5 mln shares from ~5.31 mln shares), AAP (to ~3.18 mln from ~2.83 mln), IWN (to ~0.49 mln from ~0.44 mln)
  • Maintained positions in: MRVL (~33.72 mln shares), AABA (~12.3 mln shares), PRGO (~9.64 mln shares), FTNT (~4.47 mln shares), STC (~2.32 mln shares)
  • Closed positions in: TRCO (from ~1.99 mln shares), MYCC (from ~0.67 mln), PNK (from ~0.5 mln), CL (from ~0.17 mln)
  • Decreased positions in: QTM (to ~0.94 mln shares from ~7.5 mln shares), BCO (to ~1.71 mln from ~3 mln), CTSH (to ~1.43 mln from ~2 mln)