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US stocks edged lower on Wednesday, although they had edged lower, with technology leading the charge to increase after Microsoft’s guidance was affected.
By midday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (COMP.IND) he fell 1.06% to 11,214.44 points, while the benchmark S&P 500 (SP500) he refused 0.77% to 3,986.12 points.
The Dow (DJI) was under the 0.57% up to 33,540.77 points, with Boeing also pulling down the blue-chip index together with Microsoft.
All 11 S&P sectors were trading in the red, except for Financials. Utilities and Industrials led the losers.
Microsoft ( MSFT ) rebounded as much as 4%, reversing Tuesday’s after-hours gains. CFO Amy Hood said on the conference call that “exploitation growth” in the cloud business could continue through Q3 earnings. MSFT said it expects revenue of $50.5B to $51.5B, about $1B below analysts’ expectations.
A drop in Microsoft shares and its focus on the cloud weighed on other megacap tech companies, with Amazon ( AMZN ) down 2%.
Interest rates continued to dominate the headlines on Wednesday. Planemaker Boeing ( BA ) reported an unexpected loss, sending its shares down nearly 3%.
The Nasdaq ( NDAQ ) was among the biggest losers on the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) after its quarterly results missed estimates. Renewable energy company NextEra ( NEE ) was also among the S&P’s biggest losers after disappointing sales. Meanwhile, investors cheered on telecom giant AT&T’s ( T ) stock.
All eyes will be on Tesla (TSLA), set to report after the closing bell. IBM (IBM) is also available.
Turning to the bond market, prices were mixed. The 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) was flat at 3.47%, while the 2-year yield (US2Y) fell 7 basis points to 4.14%.
“There has been some bias in risk sentiment over the past 24 hours, thanks to weaker-than-expected earnings that added to fears of a US recession,” Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid wrote.
On the economic front, the January State Street Investor Confidence Index rose slightly. Additionally, the January Survey of Business Uncertainty decreased. Market participants are now looking ahead to Thursday’s GDP data.
Among other active stocks, News Corp. (NWS) took a hit after Rupert Murdoch canceled his plan to merge Fox with News Corp.
