The US stock market's upward momentum weakened, with the S&P 500 halting its four-day winning streak, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for the sixth consecutive day. Tesla fell more than 4% at one point, while crude oil experienced a significant rebound
The Nasdaq fell for two consecutive days, the S&P closed flat, and the Dow set a new record for the longest consecutive rise in over four months. Among the components, Intel fell more than 2%, leading the decline; Tesla fell 1.7%. After the financial report, Shopify fell nearly 19%, marking its largest daily decline, Uber fell nearly 6%, Arm fell more than 8% after hours, and Robinhood rose more than 7% after hours. Chinese concept stocks fell for three consecutive days, with XPeng falling more than 6%, Nio falling more than 5%, while Xiaomi rose 7%. Pan-European and UK stocks hit record highs consecutively, with Siemens Energy rising nearly 13% after the financial report, supporting German stocks to hit new highs, AB InBev rising 4%, and BMW falling nearly 3%. Weak demand in US bond auctions pushed the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond away from its near four-week low, rising for the first time in six days. The US dollar index rose for three consecutive days; the Governor of the Bank of Japan warned of intervention, and the Japanese yen fell for the third consecutive day; Bitcoin fell over a thousand dollars during the session, breaking below $62,000. The offshore renminbi fell by less than a hundred points during the session, breaching 7.23. Crude oil hit an over eight-week low before rebounding during the session, with US oil briefly rising over 3%. Gold fell for two consecutive days. London zinc fell nearly 2%, ending a 13-month high, while London copper fell $1,000, ending a two-day rise
After hitting the longest consecutive increase in over a month, the momentum of the US stock market has diminished. Some tech giants once again dragged down the market. The media reported that the US Department of Justice is investigating whether Tesla has engaged in fraudulent behavior by misleading consumers about its autonomous driving capabilities, causing Tesla's stock price to drop by over 4% at one point. According to Securities Times citing media reports, the US government revoked Intel and Qualcomm's licenses to export semiconductors to Huawei. Intel subsequently expects second-quarter revenue to be lower than the midpoint of the guidance range, seen as a sign of the impact of chip restrictions, with the stock price dropping by 3% at one point.
Leading companies in certain industries experienced significant shocks due to financial reports: Shopify, a Canadian e-commerce company, dropped by over 20% intraday after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter performance but warning of a 50 basis point decline in gross margin in the second quarter and potential revenue impact from its logistics business. TripAdvisor, a travel website, dropped by nearly 30% intraday after reporting higher-than-expected first-quarter profits but lowering second-quarter revenue guidance and denying the possibility of a sale, marking their largest daily decline since going public. Uber, the pioneer of ride-hailing services, saw its stock drop by over 9% after reporting total order volume below expectations and unexpectedly turning from profit to loss compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, European stocks continued to benefit from positive earnings reports from leading companies, with Siemens Energy supporting the German stock index to hit a new historical high after over a month.
A Citigroup strategist stated that despite the recent rebound in US stocks, investors lack confidence in buying, indicating that the stock market is far from completely bullish. The recent unwinding of short positions has brought the S&P closer to a net long position, but investors seem unwilling to increase their existing long positions. Some analysts believe that valuation will continue to be a major challenge for the technology sector. Given the previous hype around AI concepts and valuation expansion, technology stocks face high expectations entering the earnings season, leading to increased volatility in their daily fluctuations.
In the bond market, the US Treasury auctioned $42 billion in 10-year Treasury notes, with the awarded interest rate higher than the pre-issued rate, reflecting weak demand. After the auction results were announced, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note price continued to decline intraday, with yields approaching the daily high and ending a week-long trend of continuous decline, moving away from the nearly one-month low set on Tuesday.
Some commentators believe that following Kashkari, another Federal Reserve official, Boston Fed President Collins, also made hawkish comments on Wednesday, impacting both US stocks and bonds. Collins suggested that it may be necessary to maintain high interest rates for longer to ensure that inflation continues to fall to the Fed's target of 2%, citing the necessity due to slowing economic growth.
Market expectations for Fed rate cuts this year have slightly decreased, with a total expected cut of less than 45 basis points.
In the foreign exchange market, Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda warned of possible measures to address currency market volatility. The yen continued to decline for the third consecutive day, erasing most of the gains since last Wednesday when Fed Chair Powell fueled expectations of rate cuts. Analysts believe that the market is not ignoring the risk of Japanese government intervention in the currency market, but given the large interest rate differential between the US and Japan, any Japanese intervention will only temporarily ease the yen's decline. As the yen weakens, the US dollar index has risen for three consecutive days The Swedish central bank cut interest rates on Wednesday and is expected to cut rates twice more this year, causing the Swedish Krona to fall to a one-week low. Commentators say that Sweden's example shows that as long as other central banks cut rates ahead of the Federal Reserve, the US dollar may remain strong.
In the commodity market, international crude oil experienced a significant rebound during trading. The US Energy Department announced that last week's US EIA crude oil inventories fell by nearly 1.4 million barrels more than expected. Crude oil accelerated away from the multi-week lows set earlier in the day, reaching a daily high. US oil rose by over 3% from the daily low, while Brent oil rebounded by over 2% from the daily low. After Federal Reserve official Kashkari hawkishly commented on Tuesday, London base metals closed, and on Wednesday, these metals fell back. London copper just re-crossed the $10,000 mark after a week and failed to approach the high set last week in two years. While the US dollar continued to rise, gold struggled to rebound, fluctuating multiple times during trading and ultimately closing lower.
Dow Jones sets a new record for the longest consecutive rise in over four months. Shopify and Arm plummet after earnings reports, while Robinhood surges. Pan-European stock indices hit new all-time highs again.
The three major US stock indices collectively opened lower for the first time this week, with mixed performances thereafter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average initially fell by nearly 70 points, then turned higher and maintained its gains. By midday, it rose over 210 points, up more than 0.5%. The S&P 500 initially fell by over 0.4%, but later turned higher in the morning and midday. The Nasdaq Composite initially fell by nearly 0.5%, briefly turning lower in the morning and failing to recover in the afternoon. In the end, only the Dow closed higher among the three indices.
The Dow closed up 172.13 points, a 0.44% increase, marking a six-day consecutive rise and the longest consecutive rise since December 19, 2023, reaching 39,056.39 points. It also set a new closing high since April 3. The S&P closed flat, ending a four-day consecutive rise since March 21, at 5,187.67 points, stabilizing around the high set on April 11. The Nasdaq closed down 0.18% at 16,302.76 points, falling for two consecutive days after three days of gains, moving further away from the closing high set on April 11.
The small-cap Russell 2000, dominated by value stocks, fell by 0.46%, underperforming the broader market after a five-day rise to a high since April 9. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index fell by 0.04%. The Nasdaq Technology Market Cap Weighted Index (NDXTMC), which measures the performance of tech stocks in the Nasdaq 100, fell by 0.02%, both falling after a three-day rise to a closing high since April 11.
In the Dow components, by the close, biopharmaceutical company Amgen (AMGN) led the gains with a 2.3% increase, followed by Boeing and JPMorgan Chase with over 2% gains each. Disney, which plummeted 9.5% after earnings report on Tuesday, initially fell by 0.9% but quickly turned higher to close up by less than 0.1%. Intel saw the largest decline.
Major US stock indices opened lower, with the Dow turning higher in the morning and closing up for the sixth consecutive day, while small-cap stocks underperformed the broader market
Only four sectors closed higher, with utilities up over 1%, finance up 0.4%, IT sector where Microsoft and Apple are located up over 0.2%, and materials slightly up. Among the seven sectors that closed lower, real estate fell by 0.9%, the copper futures sector fell by less than 0.5%, and non-essential consumer goods where Tesla is located fell by over 0.4%.
Including Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Google's parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla, the tech giants "Big Seven" all experienced declines in early trading, with Tesla performing the worst. Media reports indicated that after the U.S. Department of Justice investigated Tesla for potentially misleading consumers about its autonomous driving capabilities, Tesla initially fell by 4.3%, narrowing to within 2% in early trading, closing down by 1.7%, marking a two-day decline and hitting a new low since April 26th.
Among the FAANMG six major tech stocks, Alphabet, which had risen for five consecutive days to a high since April 26th, initially fell by over 1.4%, closing down by nearly 1.1%; Amazon, which had risen for five days, initially fell by nearly 1.3%, closing down by 0.4%, marking its first decline since last week's earnings report and failing to approach the closing historical high set on April 11th; Apple initially turned lower, then rose at midday, closing up by nearly 0.2%, rising for two consecutive days and approaching the high set on February 22nd when it surged 6% last Friday; Meta initially turned higher, rising by over 1% in early trading, closing up by 0.9%, rising for six consecutive days and hitting a new high for four consecutive days since April 24th; Microsoft turned higher in early trading and closed up by 0.3%, rebounding after falling for four consecutive days from the high set on April 16th; Netflix initially turned higher and closed up by nearly 0.6%, rising for six consecutive days and hitting a new high since April 18th.
Chip stocks showed mixed performance, with an overall decline during the trading session. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the semiconductor industry ETF SOXX initially fell by over 1%, then slightly turned higher in early trading, closing up by 0.1% and nearly 0.1% respectively, failing to move further away from the high set on April 11th. Among chip stocks, Nvidia initially fell by over 1.2%, then turned higher in early trading by over 0.7%, before falling again and closing down by nearly 0.2%, moving further away from the high set on March 26th; Intel fell by slightly over 3% at midday, closing down by 2.2%, Qualcomm initially fell by nearly 2%, then turned higher at the end of the session to close up by 0.2%; AMD closed down by 0.5%; Arm, which closed down by 1.6%, announced after hours that its fourth-quarter revenue and first-quarter guidance were higher than expected, but its full-year guidance was lower than expected, causing its stock price to accelerate its decline, dropping by over 8% at one point; Broadcom closed up by 1.7%, TSMC's U.S. stock closed up by nearly 1.8%, Cirrus Logic (CRUS), which reported fourth-quarter earnings and first-quarter revenue guidance higher than expected, closed up by 12.2%.
Some AI concept stocks turned higher. At the close, Astera Labs (ALAB), known as "Little Nvidia" and selling data center interconnect chips, fell by over 9% after announcing second-quarter sales growth guidance of 10% to 12%, which did not meet some investors' high expectations; SoundHound.ai (SOUN) fell by over 2%, C3.ai (AI) fell by over 1%, Adobe (ADBE) fell by nearly 0.9%, Oracle (ORCL) fell by nearly 0.5%, while Palantir (PLTR), which fell by 15% on Tuesday after reporting earnings, rose by nearly 0.8%, and BigBear.ai (BBAI) The overall market rose by nearly 0.7%, with Super Micro Computer (SMCI) up by 0.4%.
Popular Chinese concept stocks continued to decline overall. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC) fell by over 1.6% in early trading, narrowing to within 1% by midday, and closing down by 0.7%, marking the third consecutive day of decline from the high point set in October 2023. Chinese concept ETFs KWEB and CQQQ fell by nearly 0.7% and 1.8% respectively. Three new energy vehicle companies experienced significant drops, with XPeng down by over 6%, Nio down by over 5%, Li Auto down by over 4%, while Xiaomi fans rose by 7%. Among other individual stocks, by the close of trading, Alibaba, Tencent fans, Bilibili, Baidu, JD.com, and NetEase all experienced declines, while Pinduoduo, which initially dropped, rose by over 1%.
Banking stocks, which had seen a four-day winning streak, rebounded on Tuesday. The overall banking index KBW Bank Index (BKX) rose by nearly 0.8%, reaching a high not seen since March 2023; the regional banking index KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index (KRX) rose by nearly 0.5%, and the regional bank stock ETF SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) rose by nearly 0.6%, all hitting highs not seen since March 28th.
Among the stocks that reported earnings, Tripadvisor (TRIP) fell by 28.7%, Shopify (SHOP) initially dropped by 21.3% and closed down by 18.6%, both marking their largest daily declines since going public; Uber (UBER) dropped by 5.7% after an initial drop of over 9%; digital advertising measurement company DoubleVerify Holdings (DV) fell by 38.6% after lowering its second-quarter and full-year revenue and profit guidance; Shoals Technologies Group (SHLS), a system-level balance solutions provider, fell by 14.7% after reporting lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue and second-quarter guidance; software company Twilio (TWLO) dropped by nearly 6% in early trading despite higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue but weaker second-quarter guidance; financial technology stock Affirm (AFRM) fell by 9.5% despite lower-than-expected first-quarter losses and higher-than-expected revenue; dating app company Match Group (MTCH) fell by 5.4% after issuing lower-than-expected second-quarter revenue guidance; game developer Electronic Arts (EA) fell by 3.8% after disappointing fourth-quarter results and guidance for the current quarter; solar stock SolarEdge (SEDG) dropped by over 7% after reporting larger-than-expected first-quarter losses and weaker-than-expected second-quarter revenue guidance; and Airbnb (ABNB) dropped by over 8% after reporting second-quarter revenue guidance below expectations.
On the other hand, Reddit, which reported first-quarter revenue growth of 48% and lower-than-expected losses, initially rose by 11.7% and closed up by nearly 4.1%; cloud restaurant management software company Toast, which reported higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue and profits, rose by 13%; and coffee chain Dutch Bros (BROS), which reported higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue and profits, rose by 11.8%.
First-quarter revenue exceeded expectations by 48% for Reddit (RDDT), with lower-than-expected losses, rising by 4.1%; cloud restaurant management software company Toast (TOST) reported higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue and profits, rising by 13%; and coffee chain Dutch Bros (BROS) reported higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue and profits, rising by 11.8% In the first quarter, revenue nearly doubled, but the loss was $527 million, slightly lower than the same period last year. Electric car manufacturer Rivian (RIVN) fell more than 3% in early trading, closing up 0.2%; Robinhood (HOOD), a popular online brokerage with first-quarter revenue and profit exceeding expectations, rose more than 7% after hours; Applovin (APP), a mobile technology company with first-quarter revenue and profit exceeding expectations, rose more than 10% after hours; Equinix (EQIX), a digital infrastructure company with first-quarter profit exceeding expectations, rose more than 10% after hours; Klaviyo (KVYO), a marketing automation company with second-quarter revenue guidance exceeding expectations, rose more than 7% after hours.
In European stocks, corporate earnings continued to support, with the pan-European index rising for four consecutive days. The STOXX 600 index hit a new closing high for two consecutive days. Most major European stock indices continued to rise. The German, French, and British stock indices rose for four consecutive days, with the British stock index hitting a new closing high for four consecutive trading days, the German stock index refreshing its closing high since March 28, the Spanish stock index rising for three consecutive days, and the Italian stock index falling after rising for two consecutive days.
In various sectors, the food and beverage sector rose by 1.8%. Among the constituents, Belgian-listed beer giant AB InBev rose nearly 4% after announcing first-quarter profits exceeding expectations and confirming this year's guidance; the industrial sector rose by nearly 1.1%, with Siemens Energy, a power equipment manufacturer benefiting from better-than-expected quarterly performance and raised guidance, seeing its stock price surge by 12.8%, also driving the German stock index to a new high; while the automotive sector fell by 1.2%, with BMW, a German automaker whose pre-tax profit in the automotive business was lower than expected, falling by over 2.9%.
Among other companies reporting earnings, Puma, a German company with first-quarter sales meeting expectations, rose by 10.9%, and Ahold Delhaize, a Dutch supermarket chain with core profits exceeding expectations in the first quarter, rose by 2.2%; Leonardo, an Italian defense stock with new orders and revenue growth of around 15% in the first quarter, rose by nearly 2.8%.
The 10-year US Treasury yield moves away from a near four-week low, rising for the first time in six days
The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond fell below 4.46% in early Asian trading, with US stocks approaching 4.50% before the market opened, moving away from the low of around 4.42% set on April 10, rising by nearly 4 basis points intraday. After the sale of the 10-year Treasury bonds in the US stock market, the yield briefly rose above 4.49%, approaching the daily high, and by the end of the bond market session, it was around 4.49%, up by about 3 basis points intraday after five consecutive days of decline.
The more interest rate-sensitive 2-year US Treasury yield rose above 4.84% during European stock trading, with US stocks briefly falling below 4.82% in early trading, rising above 4.84% by midday, and maintaining above 4.84% after the sale of the 10-year US Treasury bonds. By the end of the bond market session, it was around 4.84%, up by about 1 basis point intraday, still far from the low of around 4.71% set on April 10 after falling below it last Friday The yield on U.S. Treasury bonds of various maturities generally rose on Wednesday, with long-term bond yields leading the way.
The U.S. Dollar Index rose for the third consecutive day, with a warning from the Bank of Japan Governor, while the Japanese Yen continued to decline for the third consecutive day. Bitcoin fell by over a thousand U.S. dollars during the trading session, dropping below $62,000.
Tracking a basket of six major currencies against the U.S. dollar, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) fell below 105.40 in early Asian trading when short-term, then rose above 105.60 in early European trading, continuing to hit a high since May 2 last Thursday, rising over 0.2% during the day, further moving away from the low near 104.50 reached on April 10 when the U.S. March CPI was announced.
By the close of U.S. stock market on Wednesday, the U.S. Dollar Index was above 105.50, up nearly 0.1% during the day; the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the U.S. dollar against ten other major currencies, rose nearly 0.2% during the day, continuing to move away from the low reached during the same period since April 11 last Friday, after both the U.S. Dollar Index and the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index had fallen for three consecutive days and then rebounded for three consecutive days.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index continued to rise from the low reached after last Friday's non-farm payroll report for over three weeks.
Among non-U.S. currencies, the Japanese Yen fell for the third consecutive day after rising for three days. The U.S. dollar against the Japanese Yen rose in early Asian trading and maintained its upward trend. In early trading, U.S. stocks approached 155.70, hitting a high since May 2, rising over 0.6% during the day, far from the low below 151.90 reached on April 10 after falling on last Friday; on the day the Swedish central bank cut interest rates, the Swedish Krona against the U.S. dollar fell for two consecutive days, falling to 0.0913 during the trading session, hitting a low since May 1, down nearly 0.9% during the day; before the Bank of England announced its monetary policy decision on Thursday, the British Pound against the U.S. dollar fell below 1.2470 in early European trading, hitting a low since May 1, hovering around 1.2500 after the U.S. stock market closed, down less than 0.1% during the day, far from the high above 1.2630 reached on April 10 after rising last Friday.
The offshore Chinese Yuan (CNH) against the U.S. dollar generally remained on a downward trend on Wednesday, rising in early Asian trading to refresh a daily high of 7.2247, falling to 7.2339 in early European trading, breaking below 7.23 for the first time since May 2, dropping 92 points from the daily high. At 4:59 am Beijing time on May 9, the offshore Chinese Yuan against the U.S. dollar was reported at 7.2297 yuan, down 24 points from the New York closing on Tuesday, falling for three consecutive days after rising for three days, with a significant easing of the decline compared to the over 100-point drop on Tuesday.
Bitcoin (BTC) continued to decline, rising above $63,200 in early Asian trading, falling below $62,000 in early U.S. stock trading, dropping below $61,900 on some platforms, falling over $1,400 from the daily high, down over 2%, rising back above $62,800 at midday, falling below $62,000 again after the U.S. stock market closed, and briefly falling below $61,700 to refresh a daily low, hitting a low since May 3, falling over 2% in the past 24 hours, continuing to move away from the high reached since last Wednesday after rising above $65,000 on Monday Bitcoin continues to fall, breaking below $62,000 during the session.
Crude oil rebounds after hitting over an eight-week low in intraday trading, with US oil rising over 3%.
International crude oil futures rebounded during Wednesday's session. While European stocks hit their lowest levels since at least March 12 in early trading, US WTI crude oil fell below $76.90, dropping 1.9% intraday, Brent crude approached $81.70, down over 1.7% intraday. After the release of US EIA data, US stocks hit daily highs during midday trading, with US oil approaching $79.30, up over 1.1% intraday, rising about 3.1% from the daily low, and Brent oil rising above $83.80, up about 0.8% intraday, rising nearly 2.6% from the daily low.
US WTI crude oil hit over an eight-week low during Wednesday's session before rebounding, rising over 3% from the low point.
In the end, crude oil rebounded from Tuesday's decline. WTI June crude oil futures closed up $0.61, or 0.78%, at $78.99 per barrel, not approaching the closing low since March 12 set last Friday; Brent July crude oil futures closed up $0.42, or 0.51%, at $83.58 per barrel, not approaching the low since March 12 set last Friday.
US oil finds support at the 100-day moving average for the fourth consecutive day.
US gasoline and natural gas futures both fell. NYMEX June gasoline futures fell by about 0.5% to $2.5318 per gallon, hitting the lowest closing level since March 8 for two consecutive days; NYMEX June natural gas futures, which rose for four consecutive days, fell by 0.91% to $2.1870 per million British thermal units, falling from the high of $2.262 set on Tuesday.
London zinc falls nearly 2% to bid farewell to 13-month high, London copper falls below $10,000, gold falls for the second consecutive day
London base metal futures fell across the board on Wednesday. Leading the decline, London nickel fell by over 1.9%, London zinc and London tin, both down over 1.8%, halted their three-day gains, falling from their respective two-week, since the end of March last year, and over a week highs set on Tuesday. London copper fell by over 1%, losing the $10,000 mark after reclaiming it for a week on Tuesday, failing to approach the two-year high set last Monday, while London aluminum and London lead both fell after rising for two days. London lead bid farewell to the high since November last year, and London aluminum failed to move away from the low of nearly three weeks.
Gold fluctuated multiple times during the session. When European stocks hit daily highs before the market opened, New York gold futures rose to $2329.6, up over 0.2% intraday, spot gold rose above $2321, up over 0.3% intraday. After the decline, when European stocks hit daily lows, futures gold fell to $2311.4, down nearly 0.6% intraday, spot gold fell below $2304, down over 0.4% intraday, still not approaching the intraday low since April 5 set last Friday At the close, COMEX June gold futures fell by 0.08% to $2322.3 per ounce, marking a two-day decline. Compared to the low point reached on April 2nd when it fell below $2303, the closing price is still some distance away. At the close of the U.S. stock market, spot gold was slightly below $2310, with an intraday decline of about 0.2%.
Gold experienced narrow fluctuations on Wednesday, with multiple intraday declines