Good Evening. Monday was a volatile day for U.S. stocks, but they closed lower as Wall Street awaited another earnings report and critical retail data.
The S&P 500 fell 0.89% while the Dow Jones fell 0.63%. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.12%.
MEAT DECLINE
Tyson Foods (TSN) Inc shares declined after the U.S. meat processor reported quarterly earnings below expectations due to a decline in pork and premium beef demand.
- Earnings Per Share: $1.63 vs. $1.73 expected
- Revenue: $13.74 Billion vs. $13.50 Billion
Companies in the food industry, such as Tyson, are facing rising prices for everything from livestock to labor. They are also examining the potential for a decline in consumer demand as a result of price increases.
With that in mind… analysts have expressed concern that rising prices will encourage consumers to purchase cheaper meat, thereby diminishing earnings for meat manufacturers. Tyson reported that the demand for premium beef cuts decreased for the quarter ending October 1, compared to the previous year’s outstanding results.
FAKE ACCOUNT HURTS LOCKHEED MARTIN?
Following the implementation of Twitter’s new verification system, which allows anyone to purchase a blue checkmark for $8 per month, Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) was among the latest corporate names to suffer a drop in value due to disinformation and false accounts.
How did it start? Following a tweet sent Thursday night from a fake account, @LockheedMartini, verified through the blue check, stating that the company would halt weapon sales to countries such as Saudi Arabia and Israel pending further investigation into their human rights records. The Twitter account has been suspended since then.
It is difficult to determine direct causation or correlation with the fraudulent tweet but there could be other factors to consider like… The Defense Department’s fiscal 2023 budget remains uncertain in the aftermath of the midterm elections, with a Dec. 16 deadline for the current continuing resolution looming. This has caused the shares of defense contractors to decline in recent weeks.