Image Source: PixabayHere’s something we haven’t seen in a while. Markets sold off on fears of a recession today. After starting off across the board slightly in the green, the Dow slid -494 points, -1.2%, the Nasdaq -405 points, -2.3%, the S&P 500 and the small-cap Russell 2000 -1.37% and -3.03%, respectively. The Fed passed on cutting rates yesterday, and we now must wait through seven weeks of data before the next chance to cut. Will it be too late?

Economic Outlook Slipping Rapidly?
 With Weekly Jobless Claims this morning coming in higher than expected — and higher than we’ve seen in a year — and a fairly paltry private-sector payroll headline from ADP (ADP – Free Report) on Wednesday, it’s possible we’re seeing the hit to the labor market analysts feared with keeping the Fed funds rate at 5.25-5.50% for the past year. It will be a minimum of 14 months at this peak by the time of the mid-September meeting; incidentally, that’s almost exactly how long rates stayed above 5% back in 2006-2007, prior to the mortgage-led financial crisis.Let’s reiterate the last time we saw jobless claims at these levels was exactly one year ago. Thus, the drop we’re seeing here may be at least somewhat seasonal in nature. That said, both ISM Manufacturing and Construction Spending came in lighter than expected for the month today, with downward revisions for previous prints. But we’ll remain agnostic on the economy falling for now; the big Employment Situation report comes out tomorrow (Friday) morning.Apple Surprises Higher in Q3The world’s biggest gadget-maker, Apple (AAPL – Free Report), has outperformed estimates in both top and bottom lines for the company’s fiscal Q3 report. Earnings of $1.40 per share pushed past the $1.34 in the Zacks consensus, on $85.78 billion in quarterly revenues, easily outpacing the $84.43 billion expected, amounting to +5% growth year over year. Apple has only missed one earnings in the last five years.iPhone sales also surpassed expectations in Q3: $39.3 billion versus $38.8 billion anticipated. Apple’s services segment also climbed to $24.21 billion, better than the $24.01 billion analysts were looking for, +14% year over year. AAPL shares are up +2% in today’s after-market, adding to the +17% gains the stock has made year to date. The conference call is slated for 3 pm Pacific Time this afternoon.Amazon Mixed in Q2, Down -5% LateFellow “Mag 7” stock Amazon (AMZN – Free Report) posted a beat on its bottom line in Q2 — earnings of $1.26 per share versus $1.05 anticipated — while coming up short on the top line: $147.9 billion, compared with the $148.6 billion estimate. This, despite +19% growth in its cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS), in the quarter. However, a weak revenue guide for Q3 of $154-158.5 billion (the previous Zacks consensus of $158.2 billion is now at the high range of AMZN’s sales outlook) is helping move shares down -5% in the after-market, cutting into the company’s +22% gains year to date.Intel Misses in Q2, Stock Slides -17%The world’s largest semiconductor company, Intel (INTC – Free Report), missed revenue estimates again — $12.83 billion versus $12.92 billion expected — on only its third earnings miss in the past five years: $0.02 per share versus $0.10 projected. But what seems to be sending shares even lower in late trading is the slashed guidance for Q3: the company now sees earnings of 3 cents per share on $12.5-13.5 billion in revenues — well off the Zacks consensus 29 cents and $14.28 billion, respectively. The company also plans to lay off 15% of its workforce, most by the end of this year. This isn’t a good sign for future employment numbers in the tech sector.DoorDash Dashes Ahead +15% on Q2 SalesSan Francisco-based “last mile” delivery service DoorDash (DASH) posted strong revenue numbers in its Q2 quarter after Thursday’s close. The company brought in $2.63 billion on the top line, for a new record high revenue quarter, above the $2.54 billion expected and +23% year over year. Although earnings in the quarter recorded a bigger miss than expected, this was largely due to two one-time items for the quarter. Total Orders and Marketplace GOV (its total value of orders) also rose to record highs in the quarter, helping the company more than double its year-to-date gains.More By This Author:Market Bifurcation, Revisited; Plus Earnings For MSFT, SBUX, PINS & More
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