Market Overview
The stock market showed mixed results today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Russell 2000 experienced slight gains, increasing by 0.1% and 0.3% respectively. Conversely, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite saw declines, dropping by 0.2% and 0.5%. A notable dip occurred in the afternoon across most sectors simultaneously, likely due to a sell program, but many stocks managed to recover some of their losses before the market closed.
Notable Stock Movements
NVIDIA (NVDA, Financial) saw a decrease of 1.1% today, following a significant 7% increase the previous day. Other notable stocks that experienced declines include Apple (AAPL, Financial) with a 1.2% drop, Meta Platforms (META, Financial) falling by 0.8%, and Tesla (TSLA, Financial), which declined by 4.5% after Wells Fargo downgraded it to Underweight from Equal Weight.
Sector Performance
- Most S&P 500 sectors ended the day with gains, with seven sectors closing higher and four sectors experiencing declines.
- The information technology sector was the worst performer, with a 1.1% loss, followed by the real estate sector, which decreased by 0.6%.
- The consumer staples sector had the smallest gain among the sectors that closed higher, partly due to Dollar Tree (DLTR, Financial) dropping by 14.2% after an earnings-related decline.
Financial Instruments and Economic Data
The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP, Financial) saw a modest gain of 0.1%. Treasuries ended the day lower, with the 10-year note yield increasing by four basis points to 4.19% and the 2-year note yield rising by two basis points to 4.62%. The $22 billion 30-year bond reopening attracted excellent demand.
Today's economic data revealed a 7.1% increase in the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index, with refinance applications up by 12% and purchase applications rising by 5%.
Global Markets and Commodities
In international markets, Europe showed positive movement with the DAX up by 0.1%, the FTSE increasing by 0.3%, and the CAC growing by 0.6%. Asian markets, however, experienced declines with the Nikkei dropping by 0.4%, the Hang Seng by 0.1%, and the Shanghai Composite by 0.4%.
Commodity prices saw various changes, with Crude Oil increasing by $2.15 to $79.74, Natural Gas decreasing by $0.05 to $1.66, Gold rising by $13.90 to $2180.50, Silver going up by $0.77 to $25.15, and Copper increasing by $0.13 to $4.06.
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Today's News
U.S. stocks on Wednesday ended mixed, a day after Wall Street posted another record-breaking session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.54% to close at 16,177.77 points, while the S&P 500 retreated 0.19% to settle at 5,165.31 points. The blue-chip Dow added 0.10% to conclude at 39,043.32 points, buoyed by extended gains in industrial conglomerate 3M (MMM, Financial). Chip names, which have been a fundamental driver of the current bull run, declined while Treasury yields were up slightly despite a strong 30-year bond auction. The market took a breather on Wednesday, digesting a Wall Street rally that seems to be plowing ahead to new highs almost every day.
SentinelOne (S, Financial) shares plunged 13% in extended-hours trading on Wednesday after the cybersecurity firm issued weaker-than-expected guidance that overshadowed its fiscal fourth-quarter results. Despite topping estimates for the fourth quarter, the company's forecast for fiscal 2025 sales and adjusted operating margins fell short of analysts' expectations, leading to a sharp decline in its stock price.
UiPath (PATH, Financial) shares surged 9.7% after the company released its fiscal fourth-quarter results, showcasing a significant beat on both top and bottom lines. The company also achieved its first quarter of GAAP profitability as a public company, with strong cash flow from operations and non-GAAP adjusted free cash flow. UiPath provided an optimistic outlook for the first quarter and fiscal year 2025, highlighting its stabilized fundamentals and revenue growth rates in the low-20s percent.
Altria Group (MO, Financial) shares traded in the green for the seventh consecutive day on Wednesday, closing up 0.74% at $43.37. The stock has risen 7.51% YTD, outperforming the broader S&P 500. Altria's stock traded higher after announcing in-line Q4 earnings with Wall Street expectations and a $1B share buyback plan.
Tesla (TSLA, Financial) CEO Elon Musk cancelled former CNN anchor Don Lemon's new show on the platform X after just one interview. Lemon aired his grievances over the swift cancellation on X, while the official business account of X responded, emphasizing the platform's commitment to free speech and diverse voices.
Limbach (LMB, Financial) press release highlighted its Q4 GAAP EPS of $0.44, beating estimates and showcasing a slight decrease in revenue year-over-year. The company provided guidance for 2024, expecting revenue between $510 million and $530 million, with adjusted EBITDA between $49 million and $53 million.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM, Financial) shares dipped before rebounding in late trading Wednesday, following reports that the U.S. Department of Justice is probing accounting practices from ADM's ethanol trading business. The company closed up 2.1% on Wednesday after announcing an accelerated stock buyback program to repurchase $1B of common shares.
Enbridge (ENB, Financial) shares closed in green for a seventh consecutive day, after having gained 3.8% over the last six trading sessions. The stock closed +0.14% at $36.14 on Wednesday, below its 52-week high of $40.30.
The automotive industry was upgraded to Attractive from a previous investment rating of In-Line by analysts at Morgan Stanley. They highlighted the potential for 10% gains on average for automotive stocks, excluding electric-vehicle pioneer Tesla (TSLA, Financial).
3M (MMM, Financial) rose as much as 5% to a two-month high after Chief Executive Mike Roman indicated the company is likely to report a higher profit for the first quarter. The projected gain is attributed to interest earned on debt raised for the spinoff of Solventum as an independent healthcare company.
Nissan (NSANY, Financial) and Honda (HMC, Financial) are reportedly joining forces to collaborate on technology, development, production, and parts procurement in EVs. This partnership will enable both companies to share costs in developing EVs and benefit from synergies in technology.
GE HealthCare (GEHC, Financial) shares fell ~3% on Wednesday after the MedTech giant announced that its former parent, General Electric (GE), would reduce its stake in the company through a secondary offering of the company's common stock.
Robinhood Markets (HOOD, Financial) reported that trading volumes in February rose across all asset classes on its platform, compared with January 2024. Equity notional trading volumes jumped 36% M/M to $80.9B; options contracts traded were $119.1M, up 12%; and crypto notional trading volume increased 10% to $6.5B.
WW International (WW, Financial) quickly dropped 13% amid a report that a group of lenders hired lawyers to prepare for debt talks with the struggling diet company. The lenders hired Gibson Dunn, according to a post on X on Wednesday from 9Fin.com's Rachel Butt.
Fossil Group (FOSL, Financial) announced that Kosta N. Kartsotis is stepping down from his position as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Jeffrey N. Boyer, the company's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since April 2021, has been appointed as Interim CEO and as a member of the board, effective immediately.
Turtle Beach (HEAR, Financial) said it will acquire gaming accessories provider PDP at an enterprise value of $118 million. The company expects total revenues of $390 million to $410 million in the first full 12 months of ownership, with post-synergy adjusted core profit of PDP projected to be $22 million to $28 million in the first full 12 months of ownership.
Developers targeting a liver disease called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are among the notable outperformers in the biopharma space this year, as Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (MDGL, Financial) in an industry-first awaits FDA clearance for its lead asset resmetirom.
Gainers and losers in the stock market included CXApp (CXAI, Financial) +60%, MicroCloud Hologram (HOLO, Financial) +39%, and Luna Innovations (LUNA, Financial) -37%. The S&P 500 Information Technology Sector slipped 1.09% to 3813.31.
Mortgage REIT AGNC Investment (AGNC, Financial) posted its 7th consecutive session of gain, having increased by 3.47% in value since March 5 to close at $9.85 on Wednesday. The stock recorded its biggest gain on Friday of 1.04% from its previous close to finish at $9.73.
Nvidia (NVDA, Financial) and Super Micro Computer (SMCI, Financial) were in focus on Wednesday as Bank of America analysts boosted their respective price targets on the companies ahead of Nvidia's annual GTC event, slated to kick on March 18.
Lawmakers in the European Union's parliament endorsed the world's first legislation to regulate artificial intelligence as the planet grapples with how the technology is upending every industry.
Snowflake (SNOW) and monday.com were among the companies in focus on Wednesday after giving updates at Loop Capital's investor conference.
Grayscale Investments has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a mini-version of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), essentially a spinoff of the larger ETF with lower fees.
NextEra Energy (NEE, Financial) rose +4% in Wednesday's trading after the U.S. Federal Election Commission voted to close its file on allegations against the utility's Florida Power & Light unit.
As Bitcoin (BTC-USD) surges again, reaching $73,672 this morning, the rally is mostly due to adoption of the coin through the ETFs on the market, said Galaxy Digital CEO Michael Novogratz.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY, Financial) rose +1.4% in Wednesday's trading as its 1PointFive carbon capture unit said AT&T (T) agreed to purchase carbon dioxide removal credits as part of the company's commitment to reduce carbon emissions and become carbon neutral in its global operations by 2035.
AGNC Investment (AGNC, Financial) declares $0.12/share monthly dividend, in line with previous. Forward yield 14.62% Payable April 9; for shareholders of record March 29; ex-div March 28.
Elon Musk on Wednesday visited the Tesla (TSLA, Financial) gigafactory in Gruenheide, Germany, that was knocked offline recently due to an arson attack that severed electricity to the plant.
Stock futures were trading mixed on Wednesday, following a record high for the S&P 500, which surged despite the release of hotter-than-expected Consumer Price Index data.
