| |
Wall Street Mixed Wednesday; Tesla Soar04/24 09:57
U.S. stocks are drifting Wednesday, as Wall Street's big week so far lets
off the accelerator.
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are drifting Wednesday, as Wall Street's big
week so far lets off the accelerator.
The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in early trading. Its two-day winning streak to
start the week erased nearly two thirds of last week's steep loss.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 32 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:40
a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.
Tesla was leading the market after jumping 11%. It said the night before
that it would accelerate production of new, more affordable vehicles, which
investors have been hoping will kickstart growth. The announcement helped
investors look past the 55% drop in profit that Tesla reported.
Tesla is the first of the group of stocks known as the "Magnificent Seven"
to report its results for the start of 2024. The focus is on the small group of
stocks because they drove most of the U.S. stock market's gain last year, and
they'll need to perform to justify their high prices.
Companies broadly will likely need to deliver fatter profits if they want
their stock prices to rise. That's because they're unlikely to get much help
from the other lever that can lift stock prices: interest rates.
Treasury yields were a bit higher in the bond market following the latest
report on the U.S. economy to come in hotter than forecast. A string of recent
such reports has diminished hopes that the Federal Reserve may deliver the
three cuts to interest rates this year that it had earlier signaled.
Wednesday's report said that orders for machinery, airplanes and other
long-lasting manufactured goods were stronger last month than expected. Wall
Street is in an awkward place where it wants the economy to avoid a painful
recession, but not to be so hot that it keeps upward pressure on inflation and
convinces the Fed not to cut rates.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.63% from 4.60% late Tuesday.
On Wall Street, Hasbro jumped 12.5% after the toy and game company reported
better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It
benefited from growth delivered by its Baldur Gate 3 and Magic: The Gathering
games, as well as by its Peppa Pig content.
Rival Mattel rose 5.6% after the company behind Barbie and Hot Wheels
reported a milder loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Boeing climbed 2.1% after reporting results that weren't as bad as analysts
feared. The company, which is battling criticism about the safety of its
airplanes, said it's taking steps to improve its manufacturing quality, which
has slowed down production.
They helped to offset a 2.6% loss for Bunge Global. The oilseed processor
reported better profit for the latest quarter than expected, but it warned it
has "limited visibility" about how the business will perform into the back half
of the year.
Railroad operator Norfolk Southern fell 3.2% after reporting weaker results
for the latest quarter than forecast.
In stock markets abroad, Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 2.4% as the value of the
Japanese yen keeps falling against the U.S. dollar. The yen has been trading at
its lowest level in 34 years, which gives a boost to Japanese exporters but
also raises speculation about whether Japanese officials will make moves to
strengthen their currency.
Stock indexes rose across much of the rest of Asia and Europe.
|
|
