China Trade Fears Ignite Intense Week of Trading

Intel's ugly guidance weighed on chip stocks

U.S.-China trade was undoubtedly the biggest theme this week, sending indexes deep into the red, while catapulting the market's "fear gauge," or Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), to multi-month highs. Specifically, Wall Street watched as the two nations tried -- and failed -- to hash out a trade deal before Friday, leading to increased tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods. As such, on Tuesday, May 7, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) suffered its worst one-day loss since January, and the S&P 500 Index (SPX) suffered its longest losing streak in two months, triggering a rare signal. As of this writing, all three major stock market indexes are pacing for their worst week since the late-December sell-off.

Intel, Disney Among Big Blue-Chip Newsmakers

Digging into specific blue chips, 3M (MMM) stock attracted a big options bull, despite slipping to territory not charted in over two years.Intel (INTC) stock took a beating after its analyst day, with a gloomy forecast resulting in the stock's worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. On the flip side, Walt Disney (DIS) reported impressive first-quarter earnings, and Verizon (VZ) flashed a bull signal that hasn't been wrong in at least 15 years.

2 Retail Stocks to Buy This Summer

Retail stocks pulled in major attention this week, specifically with brokerage firm Wedbush, which slammedAbercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Nordstrom (JWN), and Zumiez (ZUMZ) with the equivalent of a "sell." Ralph Lauren (RL) meanwhile, managed to snag a big pre-earnings bull note out of RBC. Elsewhere, athleisure stocks Nike (NKE) and Under Armour (UAA) could bebig summer buys for 2019.

5 Newly Public Stocks Making Headlines

Vegan burger specialist Beyond Meat (BYND) took investors by storm, attracting a myriad of new options bulls as it surged to more than triple its May 2 initial public offering (IPO) price. Another analyst favorite has been social media giant Pinterest (PINS), which landed a "buy" rating ahead of next week's debut earnings as a publicly traded company. Meanwhile, Jumia Technologies (JMIA) was slaughtered by short seller Citron, which called it an "obvious fraud." And, of course, the Friday debut of Uber Technologies (UBER) made plenty of noise, while sector peer Lyft (LYFT) fell to record lows.

Double Dose of Dow Earnings Next Week

A handful of big-name earnings are on the docket for next week, with blue chips Walmart (WMT) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) at the top of the list.Quarterly reports out of cannabis names Aurora Cannabis (ACB) and Tilray (TLRY) are also certain to draw attention. Fed speeches be in focus as well, as well as data on retail sales and manufacturing.