U.S. stocks sank Wednesday as another bout of earnings results hit traders’ desks, while enthusiasm from the previous session over Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s embrace of “disinflation” faded.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) declined 1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJ) edged down roughly 175 points, or 0.5%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) tumbled 1.4%.
In specific stock moves, Microsoft (MSFT) shares rose 2.7% at the open, building on Tuesday’s 4% advance over enthusiasm for a new version of its Bing search engine running on a more powerful version of OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT natural language AI technology.
Under Armour (UA) was little changed at the open, paring a pre-market gain of as much as 3% after the athletic apparel retailer lifted its profit forecast Wednesday morning, benefitting from discounts during the holiday season.
Uber’s (UBER) stock climbed 6.3% after earnings for the last three months of 2022 beat expectations and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company was focused on achieving profitability in 2023 as post-pandemic demand for ride-hailing recovers.
Shares of Chipotle (CMG) sank 4% during the open after the burrito-maker’s earnings disappointed as higher costs for tortillas, dairy, beans and rice, as well as labor costs, ate into profitability.
CVS Health (CVS) shares rose nearly 4% in extended trading after the pharmacy chain announced it has agreed to buy Oak Street Health in a $10.6 billion deal, marking its second big acquisition in the health-care space in the past two years.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 07: Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks in an interview with David Rubenstein. (Photo by Julia Nikhinson/Getty Images)
The moves Wednesday morning come after investors cheered remarks from Powell at a speaking engagement in Washington, D.C., in which he embraced the presence of “disinflation” in the U.S. economy. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 gained 1.3%, the Dow 0.7%, and the Nasdaq 1.9%.
DataTrek’s Nicholas Colas notes that Powell’s comments did not sway the market’s expectations of the likely path of monetary…
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