Headwinds for airlines, pharmaceutical stocks slip: Morning Brief

On today's episode of Morning Brief, Hosts Seana Smith and Madison Mills break down the market open and some of the top stories of the trading day. US stocks (DJI, IXIC, GSPC) opened Thursday's session mixed, with the Nasdaq Composite ready to recoup its losses from Wednesday's chip stock selloff. Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) rose in early trading on Thursday after posting better-than-expected second quarter results and raising its full-year revenue growth outlook. As Wall Street heads into the second half of the year, Annex Wealth Management chief economist and strategist Brian Jacobsen term anticipates market drivers to be "broken into two different parts" for late 2024: the Fed and the election. "Between now and September, it's likely more focused on the Fed. We will get distracted by politics, but really until we get closer to say end of September, beginning of October, when the polls are going to get a little bit more accurate, we think that those are just going to be like pockets of volatility," Jacobsen explains. "The 'Trump trade' came back in vogue with a vengeance over the last week or so. But that could kind of simmer down a little bit." Peak summer travel is underway, and despite record travel, United Airlines (UAL) revealed mixed second quarter earnings results and disappointing third quarter earnings guidance. Alaska Air Group's (ALK) stock fell Thursday morning following its second quarter earnings, disclosing full-year profit forecasts also below expectations. TD Cowen vice president of equity research Tom Fitzgerald explains, "The game changed a lot... the cost convergence is just the ultra low-cost carriers, they're just at such a disadvantaged point competitive wise, and... think people coming out of the pandemic are much more willing to pay for a more pleasant onboard experience, to pay for a more reliable product, to earn loyalty or to earn miles in an airline where they can redeem to go to Europe or something versus just another low cost, leisure, no-frills carrier." Pharmaceutical stocks are slipping Thursday as shares of Abbott Laboratories (ABT) dip despite the company raising its full-year profit forecast and revealing its medical-device segment saw sales 12% year-over-year in the second quarter. Similarly, shares of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis (NVS) are falling despite raising its full-year profit guidance after topping second quarter earnings and revenue estimates. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley is out with a mix of retail calls. The firm's analyst team is bullish on Gap (GPS), upgrading the retail stock from Equal Weight to Overweight, explaining the stock offers "among the greatest fundamental recapture opportunities." On the other hand, Morgan Stanley downgraded Foot Locker (FL) to Underweight from Equal Weight and slashed its price target to $18 from $24 due to a weakening sales performance from Nike (NKE). This post was written by Melanie Riehl