By Chibuike Ogu
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The benchmark S&P 500 traded higher in choppy trade on Wednesday as investors weighed rising U.S. Treasury yields on the back of strong corporate earnings, particularly from technology giants. finished.
Wednesday's record auction of $70 billion worth of five-year U.S. Treasuries helped push bond yields higher and weighed on stock prices. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose 5 basis points to 4.6459%.
The Dow ended lower, while the Nasdaq ended higher. Seven of the 11 sectors in the S&P 500 index rose, led by consumer staples, utilities, consumer discretionary, and real estate stocks.
Investors were also focused on quarterly earnings of companies, especially large growth stocks. Metaplatforms' stock price rose over time after the tech giant reported capital spending could reach up to $40 billion in 2024, despite higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue. Shares fell 11% in external trading.
Microsoft and Alphabet are expected to announce results later this week.
Tesla soared 12% after the electric car maker's plans to expand production and roll out more affordable models were overshadowed by weak quarterly results.
“My biggest concern is the bond market, especially the long end of the U.S. yield curve,” said Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist at Bell Curve Trading in Boston.
The S&P 500 Index rose 1.08 points (0.02%) to 5,071.63, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 16.11 points (0.10%) to 15,712.75. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 42.77 points, or 0.11%, to $38,460.92.
Markets are focused on the release of first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data on Thursday and March personal consumption expenditure (PCE) data on Friday. A better-than-expected consumer price inflation report in March dampened expectations for when the Federal Reserve would start cutting interest rates.
Boeing shares fell 2.8% after the aircraft maker reported its first quarterly revenue decline in seven quarters, even though the results beat analysts' expectations.
Enphase Energy Inc., a solar inverter maker, fell 5.5% after the company said second-quarter sales would be lower than analysts expected.
Texas Instruments rose 5.6% after the semiconductor maker expected second-quarter sales to beat analysts' expectations. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ended higher while most semiconductor stocks rose.
Pharmaceutical maker Biogen rose 4.5% after beating first-quarter profit estimates, and medical device maker Boston Scientific rose 5.7% after raising its full-year profit forecast.
Hasbro rose nearly 12% after the toymaker reported a smaller-than-expected first-quarter sales decline and handily beat profit estimates.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing issues on the New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of 1.33 to 1. On the NYSE, 80 stocks hit new highs and 50 hit new lows. On the Nasdaq, declining issues outnumbered advancing issues by a 1.22-to-1 ratio, with 1,903 advancing issues and 2,316 declining issues.
The S&P 500 index posted 11 new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq posted 55 new highs and 120 new lows.
Trading volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.2 billion shares, with the past 20-day average of 11.07 billion shares.
(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; Additional reporting by Shristi Achar A and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
