U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday after mixed earnings from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs pressured banks, and as sell-offs in Boeing and Apple weighed on the S&P 500.
Market Snapshot
The S&P 500 declined 0.37% to end the session at 4,765.98 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.19% to 14,944.35 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.62% to 37,361.12 points.
Market Movers
Morgan Stanley reported fourth-quarter earnings of 85 cents a share, falling short of analysts’ estimates of $1.07 and down from $1.31 a year earlier as the company recorded two one-time charges. Revenue rose 1.2% to $12.9 billion, beating consensus of $11.93 billion. The stock declined 4.2%.
Goldman Sachs reported fourth-quarter earnings of $5.48 a share, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.62. Revenue at the bank’s asset and wealth management rose 23% in the period. The stock closed up 0.7%.
JetBlue rose 4.9% and Spirit Airlines fell 47% after a federal judge blocked the merger, saying the combination would harm Spirit’s price-sensitive consumers.
Boeing fell 7.9% after the much-anticipated return of 737 MAX deliveries to China was hit with further delays following an emergency incident onboard an Alaska Airlines flight earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported. China Southern Airlines was to receive Boeing planes as early as January, people familiar with the matter told the Journal. Now the airline is planning to conduct additional safety inspections on the aircraft following the incident, though the jets to be delivered aren’t the same variant as Alaska’s MAX 9, the Journal noted.
Advanced Micro Devices rose 8.3% and was the top-performing stock in the S&P 500. Analysts at KeyBanc raised their price target on the stock to $195 from $170 and maintained their Overweight rating on the shares. Meanwhile, another AI stock Nvidia rose 3.06% and hit another record high.
Tesla rose 0.5%, turning positive after beginning the session in the red. Elon Musk, chief executive of the electric-vehicle maker, wrote in a blog post on X that he wants more voting power at the company if he is to grow it into a leader in artificial intelligence and robotics.
Microsoft officially passed Apple on Friday to reclaim the title of the world’s most valuable public company. Microsoft’s value at the close of trading was $2.89 trillion, eclipsing Apple’s $2.87 trillion. Microsoft was up 0.5% on Tuesday, while Apple was down 1.2%.
Microsoft on Monday unveiled Copilot Pro, a subscription service targeted at individuals, for $20 a month. The service is an artificial intelligence-based companion for the company’s widely used suite of productivity apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.
Apple, meanwhile, is removing a blood-oxygen sensor from some of its smartwatches to get around a patent dispute related to the technology, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company also is offering discounts on some newer models of its iPhone in China.
Western Digital rose 4.5% to $52.23 after shares of the data-storage company were raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank and the price target on the stock was increased to $65 from $45. Analysts at Barclays also raised their recommendation on Western Digital to Overweight from Equal Weight.
Ansys, the design-software company, agreed to be acquired by Synopsys in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $35 billion. The transaction values Ansys shares at $367.57. Ansys closed Friday at $345. It fell Tuesday by 5.5% to $327.42. Synopsys rose 3.1%.
Alcoa fell 7.2% to $27.87 after the stock was initiated with a Sell rating at UBS. The price target was set at $29. The aluminum products company is scheduled to report earnings after the close of trading Wednesday.
Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ: IBKR) declined 2.25% after it reported fourth quarter EPS of $1.52, $0.02 worse than the analyst estimate of $1.54. Revenue at the electronic broker came in at $1.14 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion.
Rocket Lab USA (RKLB) gained 3% after KeyBanc initiated coverage with an ‘overweight’ rating and a price target of $8.
Big 5 Sporting Goods (Nasdaq: BGFV) declined 5% after it reported sales results for the fiscal 2023 fourth quarter. Net sales were $196.3 million compared to net sales of $238.3 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. Same store sales decreased 17.7% year-over-year.
Calavo Growers (Nasdaq: NASDAQ: CVGW) declined 7% after it announced it would delay the release of fourth quarter and full year results. The Company expects to report that net sales decreased approximately 18% to $972 million for the year ended October 31, 2023, below the consensus of $987 million.
Impinj, Inc. (PI) gained 11% after it announced that it expects fourth quarter 2023 revenue to exceed $70 million, above its prior guidance of $65.5 to $68.5 million and adjusted EBITDA to exceed $2.5 million, above its prior guidance of ($0.9) to $0.7 million.
Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) climbed 4% after it reported fourth quarter EPS of $1.02, $0.11 better than the analyst estimate of $0.91. Revenue for the quarter came in at $176.97 million versus the consensus estimate of $174.12 million. The company sees FY2024 EPS of $4.58-$4.68 on revenue of $722-732 million.
Digital World Acquisition (DWAC) declined 5%, paring gains after surging 29% during the regular session. The blank check firm has an agreement to take President Donald Trump's social media platform public, and today’s strength followed Trump’s victory in the Republican contest in Iowa.
Market News
China Weighs More Stimulus With $139 Billion of Special Bonds
China is considering 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) of new debt issuance under a so-called special sovereign bond plan, only the fourth such sale in the past 26 years, as authorities seek more money to finance intensifying efforts to shore up the world’s second-largest economy.
The proposal under discussion by senior policymakers would involve the sale of ultra-long sovereign bonds to fund projects related to food, energy, supply chains and urbanization, people familiar with the matter said.
Prior sales of such bonds are rare: In the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998, for example, the government issued special debt to replenish capital for major state-owned banks. The most recent sale was in 2020, when authorities issued 1 trillion yuan worth of those bonds to pay for pandemic response measures.
UBS Lifts 2024 Year-End S&P 500 Target to 5,150, Tops Big Banks
UBS Global Research increased its year-end target for the S&P 500 on Tuesday to 5,150, marking the highest projection among major global banks and indicating a potential 8% upside from current levels.
The European brokerage had earlier expected the index to end the year at 4,850.
UBS' view on the benchmark index is supported by growing bets of the U.S. Federal Reserve cutting interest rates this year, a decline in inflation and resilient earnings expectations.