The Nasdaq-100 fell harder than the S&P 500 and Dow on Wednesday with Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL) playing a big role as usual.
Apple, the largest component of PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGM: QQQ), lost nearly 6% after the tech darling’s quarterly earnings missed expectations. The Nasdaq-100 ETF shed about 2%. [Apple Drags on Nasdaq]
However, Yahoo (NasdagGS: YHOO) surprised observers with its better-than-expected third quarter results, gaining 3% on the day. [Nasdaq-100 ETF Lower Before Apple, Intel Earnings]
Yahoo posted revenue that matched Wall Street’s expectations and adjusted earnings beat analysts’ expectations, according to the Associated Press.
Jefferies analyst Youssef Squali remarked that the results mirrored the “muted” market expectations and “should be enough to keep investors on board while waiting for a resolution to the bigger`sale/partial sale/new CEO’ issue.”
“We continue to believe that a sale is likely, that an outright sale to (Microsoft, with Alibaba) makes the most sense, but that many permutations are likely to be considered in the process,” Squali said in a note.