The DOW JONES fell 0.73% or 317 points to 43,071 points, while the S&P 500 fell 0.55%, at 5,861 points. The NASDAQ fell 0.50% to 18,698 points.
The major Wall Street indices are coming off a mixed day yesterday, Monday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6%, breaking a four-day losing streak, while the S&P 500 added about 0.4%.
However, the Dow Jones bucked this trend, dropping 55 points, or 0.1%, and closing negative for the third consecutive day. After the post-election euphoria that took the index to historical highs of 43,958.19 points (44,405.73 intraday), it seems that Tempers have cooled on concerns about the future path of rate cuts given the strength of the economy and the labor market.
“The market has been in an uptrend due to a strong economy, continued rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and strong third quarter earnings,” believes Andrew Slimmon, director of Applied Equity Advisory Team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. “The market is well prepared for stocks and investors are not going to see the pullback they want.”
Today, however, the market is weighed by tensions due to the situation in Ukraine, after Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured that Russia could consider the use of nuclear weapons if it were subject to a conventional missile attack supported by a nuclear power. This threat comes after the US yesterday allowed Ukraine to fire long-range US-made missiles towards Russia.
“Rising geopolitical tensions have been and continue to be a risk for markets,” says Gaurav Mallik, chief investment officer at Pallas Capital Advisors. “The combination of Russia escalating its war rhetoric and uncertainty about how the incoming US presidential administration will respond is a recipe for stock market volatility.”
He CBOE volatility index It briefly rose to its highest level since the US elections on November 5, although it subsequently moderated the rise by 1.24 points to 16.79.
Today the macroeconomic agenda is quite light, with the publication of construction permits and housing starts for October: permits fell by 0.6% to a figure of 1,416 million, while construction starts fell by 3.1 %, at 1,311 million.
In the business field, one of the great protagonists of the day is Walmart, which for years was considered a true benchmark of consumption in the US. The company presented its quarterly results today: it earned an adjusted 58 cents per share, above the expected 53 cents. Revenue reached $169.59 billion, compared to the expected $167.72 billion.
And furthermore has improved its forecasts for the year as a whole, now expecting sales to grow between 4.8% and 5.1%compared to the previous range, which was between 3.75% and 4.75%. Shares rise 2.3% at the open.
Without leaving the retail sector, Lowe’s has presented a Earnings of $2.89, adjusted, per share, versus $2.82 expectedwhile revenues amounted to $20.17 billion, also exceeding the expected $19.95 billion. The company has updated its guidance for the year, expecting sales between 83,000 and 83,500 million, compared to the previous figure between 82,700 and 83,200 million. Comparable store sales will be down between 3% and 3.5%, when previously it expected a drop of between 3.5% and 4%.
Automation technology company Symbotic soars 28.5% in New York morning after exceeding revenue expectations in its fiscal fourth quarter. Revenue rose to $576.8 million in the fourth quarter, well above the $470.2 million figure forecast by Wall Street.
All eyes are also directed to the quarterly results that NVIDIA will publish tomorrow, Wednesday after the close of the regular session. Attention will be on how much demand the company reports for its Blackwell AI chips. The stock is up marginally in the pre-open after falling 1.3% in the regular session yesterday.
In the absence of these accounts, the earnings season is practically over on Wall Street. Of the 500 companies that make up the S&P 500, 461 companies have already published, with a average increase in earnings per share (EPS) of 8.5%, compared to the 5.1% expected before of the publication of the first company, Bankinter analysts highlight. 75.4% of the companies beat results, 17.8% disappoint and the remaining 6.8% are in line with expectations. In the last quarter (2Q 2024) EPS increased by 14.0%, compared to the 9.1% initially expected.
Super Micro shares soared 24% at market opening after already rising 15% yesterday. The company hhas hired BDO as its new independent auditorwhile also submitting a plan to the Nasdaq Stock Market to return to compliance with the exchange’s listing requirements.
Super Micro was late in filing its year-end report with the SEC and had announced earlier this month that it was looking for a new auditor after its previous auditor, Ernst & Young, resigned in October. Super Micro shares are down more than 24% this year, and have plunged 54.7% over the past month on news of its Nasdaq compliance.
Another protagonist of the day is Trump Media, which registers drops of more than 8% due to the news that the company is in talks to buy the cryptocurrency trading firm Bakkt.
In raw materials markets, oil prices remain unchanged, pressured by the restart of production at the Norwegian Johan Sverdrup oil fieldand while investors keep an eye on the war between Russia and Ukraine. Equinor has resumed partial production from this field, the largest in Western Europe, after a cut that helped prices rise 3% yesterday.
European benchmark Brent oil futures are down 0.18% at $73.16 per barrel, while US West Texas futures are down 0.13% at $69.08.
In fixed income, the yield on the ten-year US bond falls to 4.346% after investors have boosted purchases of safe-haven assets. The two-year bond pays 4.247%. Returns move inversely to prices.
Gold is also asserting its refuge status today, rising 0.76% to $2,634.50 per ounce.
Today the euro falls 0.11% against the dollar, leaving the exchange rate at 1.0586 dollars for each community currency.