U.S. stocks retreated on Wednesday morning after Tuesday's rally, in which the main indexes posted their biggest one-day gains since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.66% to 25,626, the S&P 500 index declined 0.50% to 2,795 and the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 0.61% to 7,599.
Shares of United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL, Financial), however, gained more than 4% on Wednesday morning after the company posted third-quarter earnings of $3.06 per share on $11 billion in revenue, reflecting 11.3% year-over-year growth. The company fell 4 cents short of earnings estimates, but beat revenue expectations by $40 million.
"Our stand-out third-quarter performance, which produced double-digit revenue growth as we more than offset the steep increase in fuel costs, is proof that United is building momentum," CEO Oscar Munoz said.
Consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) increased 6.1% year over year, above the high end of the company's guidance of 4% to 6% growth.
Further, the company raised its profit outlook for the year to a range of $8 to $8.75, higher than previous guidance of $7.25 to $8.75 a share.
Gainers
- Xerox Corp. (XRX, Financial)
- American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL, Financial)
- Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL, Financial)
Losers
- Autozone Inc. (AZO, Financial)
- Advance Auto Parts Inc. (AAP, Financial)
- Davita Inc. (DVA, Financial)
- Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC, Financial)
- Home Depot Inc. (HD, Financial)
- Macy's Inc. (M, Financial)
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded lower. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.068%, France's CAC 40 lost 0.54%, Germany's Dax declined 0.52% and Spain's IBEX 35 retreated 0.85%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.29%, India’s BSE Sensex slid 1.09%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.07% and China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.60%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
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