Stock market today: Markets on Wall Street hover near record highs as more retailers report earnings

Markets on Wall Street were mixed early Wednesday but remained at or above record highs as more results from retailers took center stage amid a lack of economic news.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures barely edged into positive territory, rising less than 0.1% before the bell, while S&P 500 futures fell 0.1%.

Target fell 7% before markets opened after it reported a drop in quarterly revenue and missed industry analysts’ profit expectations. Earlier this week, Target said it was cutting prices on thousands of its customer bases to lure inflation-weary customers looking for deals.

Lululemon, the Canadian yoga and athletic apparel company, slipped 4% after announcing it was changing its organizational structure in conjunction with the departure of its chief product officer.

The week’s headliner is Nvidia, whose shares have surged amid a frenzy over artificial intelligence technology. The chipmaker will report its latest quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday, and expectations are high. Nvidia shares were flat early at around $954 each, more than six times their value at the 2023 open.

There isn’t much high-level economic data this week, and the biggest potential for sharp market moves is likely to come from earnings reports.

Wednesday’s retail reporting schedule includes results from TJX Cos., Petco and Williams Sonoma.

US indices have risen to record highs recently largely on expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this year as inflation cools. More reports showing major U.S. companies earning bigger-than-expected earnings have also boosted the market.

Rates on mortgages, credit cards and other payments have become more expensive because the Federal Reserve has kept its key interest rate at its highest level in more than two decades. It is trying to walk a tightrope where it weighs down the economy only with high interest rates to quell high inflation, but not enough to cause a painful recession.

Later on Wednesday are the latest government data on home sales and the release of minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting, where the US central bank left its borrowing rate alone for the sixth time in a row.

Elsewhere, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4% after the Office for National Statistics reported a stronger-than-expected inflation reading that dashed hopes of a rate cut in June. Inflation fell to 2.3% in April, from 3.2% in March. But it remained above the Bank of England’s target of 2%.

France’s CAC 40 lost 0.6% at midday, while Germany’s DAX fell 0.5%.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% to 38,617.10 after Japan reported that its trade deficit widened last month as rising import costs outpaced an 8% rise in exports from a year earlier. The data was weaker than analysts had predicted.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.2% to 19,184.85, while the Shanghai Composite index was almost unchanged at 3,158.54.

In South Korea, the Kospi was virtually unchanged at 2,723.46. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.1% lower at 7,848.10.

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 1.5% as shares in market heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. jumped by 2.7%.

Markets in Thailand were closed for the holidays.

U.S. crude fell 53 cents to $78.13 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 55 cents to $82.33 a barrel.

The US dollar rose to 156.47 Japanese yen from 156.16 yen. The euro is at $1.0833, up from $1.0854.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 5,321.41 and surpassed the record set last week. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.2% to 16,832.62, a day after setting its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 39,872.99 and is holding just below its high of last week.

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