Premarket action on Wednesday had the three major U.S. indexes trading lower. The Dow Jones industrials were down 0.05%, the S&P 500 down 0.06%, and the Nasdaq 0.02% lower.
All 11 market sectors closed lower on Tuesday, hammered by geopolitical news. Consumer cyclicals (−3.34%) and technology (−2.4%) gave up the most. Energy (−0.31%) and consumer staples (−0.34%) gave up the least. The Dow closed down 2.06%, the S&P 500 down 2.00% and the Nasdaq down 2.50%.
Two-year Treasuries closed up seven basis points at 4.67% on Tuesday, and 10-year notes jumped 13 basis points to close at 3.95%. In Wednesday’s premarket, two-year notes were trading at around 4.70% and 10-year notes at around 3.95%.
Oil traded down about 0.2% Tuesday, and traded it down by 1.4% early Wednesday morning at $75.29.
Tuesday’s trading volume was right around the five-day average. New York Stock Exchange losers outpaced winners by 2,721 to 384, while Nasdaq decliners led advancers by about 4 to 1.
The minutes of the January Federal Open Market Committee meeting will be released Wednesday afternoon. Market action is likely to be somewhat muted until then.
On Thursday, the weekly petroleum and natural gas inventory reports will be released, along with the weekly report on new claims for unemployment benefits. The second estimate of fourth-quarter gross domestic product is also due before markets open on Thursday. The monthly report on personal consumption expenditures is on tap for Friday morning.
Among S&P 500 stocks, General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) added 4.42%% on Tuesday after announcing improved guidance at a conference in New York. The home of the Pillsbury doughboy raised fiscal 2023 earnings guidance from a prior range of 4% to 6% to a new range of 7% to 8%. General Mills also guided full-year organic net sales growth to around 10%, up from a prior range of 8% to 9%.
Manufacturing company Nordson Corp. (NASDAQ: NSDN) dropped 13.93% after reporting fiscal first-quarter results that were lower than expected. Company executives also noted that new orders had fallen in recent weeks and some customers were delaying delivery dates into the second half of the year.
China’s leading search engine, Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), beat consensus estimates when it reported quarterly results Wednesday morning. The better news was an announced $5 billion share buyback that will run through 2025. Ernie, the company’s AI chatbot, will be released next month, and the company plans to integrate the capability into its search, cloud computing and autonomous driving offerings.
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