The S&P 500 and Nasdaq edged lower on Wednesday as investors took profits in chipmaker stocks, while they braced for producer price data and further clues on the inflation trend ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 37.83 points, or 0.1%, to 39,043.32. The S&P 500 lost 9.96 points, or 0.19%, at 5,165.31 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 87.87 points, or 0.54%, to 16,177.77.
Market Movers
Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia declined 1.1% as investors took profits following the stock’s jump of more than 7% on Tuesday. Fellow chip makers also traded lower. Micron Technology was down 3.4% and Advanced Micro Devices fell 4%. Intel fell 4.4% after a report from Bloomberg said the Pentagon was pulling out of a plan to spend as much as $2.5 billion on a chip grant to the semiconductor company.
Tesla (TSLA) - Tesla fell 4.5% to $169.50 after Wells Fargo cut its recommendation on shares of the electric-vehicle maker to Underweight from Equal Weight and reduced the stock’s price target to $125 from $200. Tesla “ain’t looking so magnificent,” wrote Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan. “We expect volume to disappoint as price cuts are having a diminishing impact on demand. Lower deliveries and [vehicle] price drive our 2024 earnings per share [estimate] 32% below consensus.”
Coinbase (COIN) - Coinbase fell 1.7% after announcing it plans to conduct a $1 billion convertible senior notes offering, with notes due in 2030. The crypto exchange said it would use proceeds from the offering to repay outstanding debt and for general corporate purposes. The stock has risen 52% this year and 310% over the past 12 months as Bitcoin sets record highs.
Dollar Tree (DLTR) - Dollar Tree declined 14.2% after the discount retailer’s fourth-quarter adjusted earnings missed analysts’ expectations and it issued a weaker-than-expected profit outlook for its fiscal first quarter.
Williams-Sonoma (WSM) - Williams-Sonoma jumped 17.8% after the seller of housewares reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates, boosted its dividend, and said its board authorized a new $1 billion stock repurchase plan.
GE HealthCare Technologies (GEHC) - GE HealthCare Technologies fell 3.6% after the company announced the pricing of a secondary offering of 14 million shares. The deal was upsized from 13 million shares.
Carnival (CCL) - Carnival rose 2.5% to $16.65 and Royal Caribbean gained 1.8% to $132.11 as analysts at Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on shares of the cruise companies at Buy. Goldman set a $20 price target on Carnival and $162 on Royal Caribbean. The firm initiated Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings at Neutral. Norwegian was up 1.6%.
Allbirds (BIRD) - Allbirds reported a fourth-quarter loss wider than a year earlier as revenue at the shoe brand fell 15% to $72 million. The company issued a sales forecast for the fiscal first quarter and year that was below estimates and the company announced that CEO Joey Zwillinger would be stepping down. The stock fell 19%.
Market News
US House Passes Bill That Would Force TikTok Sale or Ban It
The US House of Representatives passed a bill to ban TikTok in the US unless its Chinese owner sells the video-sharing app, mounting the most serious challenge yet to a service that’s used by 170 million Americans but critics call a national-security threat.
The measure, passed Wednesday by a vote of 352 to 65, now faces a less certain future in the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has so far declined to endorse it, and members including Republican Rand Paul have come out against it.