U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday amid further gains in Treasury yields and concern over the timing and scale of possible interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note hit four-week highs at 4.6%, extending Tuesday's gains, after weak debt auctions.
Market Snapshot
The S&P 500 lost 39.09 points, or 0.74%, to 5,266.95 while the Nasdaq Composite lost 99.30 points, or 0.58%, to 16,920.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 411.32 points, or 1.06%, to 38,441.54.
Market Movers
After the closing bell, shares of Salesforce were down 16% as the company reported results and forecast second quarter revenue below estimates. Salesforce shares ended the regular session up 0.7%.
During the regular session, shares of Marathon Oil advanced 8.4% after ConocoPhillips said it would buy the company in an all-stock deal for a little over its $15 billion market value. ConocoPhillips fell 3.1%. The energy sector dropped 1.8%.
Shares of electric-vehicle startup Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. plunged 62% on Wednesday
Airline stocks declined, led by American Airlines which declined 13.5% after the company cut its second-quarter profit forecast.
Dick's Sporting Goods rose 15.9% after lifting forecasts for annual sales and profit, while Abercrombie & Fitch shot up 24.3% on raised annual sales growth forecast.
Market News
Pentagon Awards $480 Million Deal to Palantir for 'Maven' Prototype
Palantir has won a $480 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense for a prototype known as the Maven Smart System, the department said on Wednesday, deepening the data analytics provider's work with the Pentagon.
The contract has an expected May 2029 completion date and follows the Defense Department's solicitation of a sole bid, it said.
Maven takes in data from various sources to identify military points of interest and to speed up intelligence analysts' work, according to one brigade's description of the system earlier this year.
Salesforce Shares Tumble as Soft Cloud Demand Hurts Forecasts
Salesforce forecast second-quarter profit and revenue below Wall Street estimates on Wednesday due to weak client spending on its cloud and enterprise business products, sending its shares down more than 16% after the bell.
It expects revenue between $9.20 billion and $9.25 billion compared with estimates of $9.37 billion, according to LSEG data.
Salesforce's forecast pointed to clients scaling back spending as the possibility of higher-for-longer interest rates and elevated inflation prompt them to keep costs under control.
Arm Offers New Designs, Software for AI on Smartphones
Arm Holdings on Wednesday unveiled new chip blueprints and software tools to help smartphones handle artificial intelligence tasks, along with changes to how it delivers those blueprints that could help speed their adoption.
Arm's technology powered the rise of smartphones and is increasingly found in PCs and in data centers, where chip designers have gravitated toward its energy efficiency.
C3.ai Jumps After Software Maker Gives Upbeat Sales Forecast
C3.ai Inc. shares surged in late trading after the software company gave a stronger-than-expected annual sales forecast, helped by demand for artificial intelligence features.
Revenue will be $370 million to $395 million in fiscal 2025, which runs through next April, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Even the low end of that range would top the $367.5 million estimated by analysts on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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