Consumer stocks were lower Tuesday afternoon, with the State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) decreasing 0.3% and the State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) shedding 0.4%.
In corporate news, Dollar General (DG) raised its full-year earnings outlook on Tuesday, while the discount retailer's fiscal Q1 bottom line topped estimates but revenue missed expectations. Its shares were down 1.4%.
Tech stocks were higher Tuesday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) adding 0.7% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) rising 4.8%.The Philadelphia Semiconductor index climbed 4.7%.In corporate news, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) shares jumped past 16% after the company reported fiscal Q2 earnings ahead of analysts' forecasts.
Natural gas prices weakened for a second day on Tuesday even as forecasts see hot weather on the way for most states, boosting cooling demand.Gas for July delivery was last seen down US$0.06 to US$3.12 per million British thermal units, continuing to ease off the four-month highs touched last week.The drop comes even as long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service expect nearly all states to be warmer than seasonal over its six to 14 day outlook, raising demand for gas-fired power for air conditioning.Still, the price of the fuel looks to be now trading within technical ranges following last week's rally."There is fundamental support for Jul/Aug gas at about $3.15 so look for the market to remain in the $3.10 to $3.20 range with some upside risk should we see more heat develop for the second half of June," Gary Cunningham, Director of Market Research at Tradition Energy, wrote.
Energy stocks were declining premarket Tuesday, with the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) down 0.3%.The United States Oil Fund (USO) was down 1.1% and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was 1.9% lower.Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was 0.9% lower at $91.30 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil lost 0.7% to $94.28 per barrel, and natural gas futures were down 1.8% at $3.12 per 1 million British Thermal Units.BP (BP) has asked senior independent director Amanda Blanc to lead the search for the company's next chair despite concerns from some investors and city figures following the departure of former chairperson Albert Manifold, the Financial Times reported. Shares of BP were down more than 1% pre-bell.BW LPG (BWLP) shares were up 0.7% after the company reported higher Q1 earnings.Bloom Energy (BE) doesn't currently see a need to raise capital through share sales despite surging demand for its fuel-cell technology from AI data centers, Bloomberg News reported, citing Chief Executive K. R. Sridhar. Bloom Energy stock was up more than 3% premarket.