Dow Drubbed, While NASDAQ Pulls Ahead



The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped on Thursday as a sharp decline in 3M shares dragged the 30-stock index.

The Dow lost 134.97 points to 26,462.08, as shares of 3M dropped 12.9% after the company reported earnings that were much lower than analysts had expected.

The company also slashed its full-year outlook and announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs worldwide. 3M shares posted their worst day since Oct. 19, 1987, also known as Black Monday.

3M CEO Mike Roman said the quarter was "disappointing," noting: "We continued to face slowing conditions in key end markets which impacted both organic growth and margins, and our operational execution also fell short of the expectations we have for ourselves."

The S&P 500 doffed 1.08 points to 2,926.17,

The NASDAQ Composite gained 16.67 to 8,118.68, and hit an intraday record, getting a boost from strong quarterly reports out of Facebook and Microsoft.

Facebook shares rose 5.5% after its first-quarter numbers showed promising growth in Stories and ads.

The analyst also raised his price target on Facebook to $220 per share from $200.

Microsoft, meanwhile, climbed more than 3% as its better-than-expected earnings were driven by a 41% surge in its commercial cloud revenue business. That growth was led by Azure, which saw sales skyrocket by 73%.

Amazon and Starbucks were among the companies that reported after the bell Thursday, along with Dow member Intel.

More than 170 S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results so far, according to FactSet. Of those companies, 78% have posted better-than-expected earnings.

Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury were marginally down, raising yields to 2.54% from Wednesday’s 2.52%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices slid 83 cents to $65.06 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices lost 10 cents to $1,279.30 U.S. an ounce.