U.S. stocks fell on Monday ahead of new uncertainty in regard to trade policy after President Trump proposed tariffs on an additionall $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.
Shares of Micron Technology Inc. (MU, Financial) opened higher on Monday, but lost ground after two analyst firms released ratings.
BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “Market Perform” rating on the company and cut the price target by 25% to $45, a 1.5% upside over the next year.
“While the investment community has been in general wary about NAND pricing for some time, it is the weakness in DRAM pricing, which we believe has caught investors by surprise," analyst Ambrish Srivastava said. "We believe downward estimate revisions for Micron are just beginning. Our estimates remain below those of consensus.”
Deutsche Bank (DB, Financial) also lowered the price target to $60 from $80 and reiterated a buy rating. Analyst Sidney Ho cut the company’s earnings per share estimates by 6% for the first quarter and 20% for fiscal year 2019. The analyst expects a “choppy” price in the short term.
Gainers
- Kroger Co. (KR, Financial)
- Mosaic Co. (MOS, Financial)
- NiSource Inc. (NI, Financial)
- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT, Financial)
Losers
- Macy's Inc. (M, Financial)
- Ansys Inc. (ANSS, Financial)
- Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN, Financial)
- Red Hat Inc. (RHT, Financial)
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded mostly in the red. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slid 0.03%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.07% and Germany's Dax retreated 0.23%. Spain's IBEX 35 gained 0.42%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.20%, India’s BSE Sensex fell 1.33%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.30% and China's Shanghai Composite declined 1.11%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
