Stocks were mixed on Wall Street Wednesday, as indexes drifted between small gains and losses through a quiet day of trading.
The S&P 500 edged down by 1.55, or less than 0.1%, to 4,376.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 74.08 points, or 0.2%, to 33,852.66, while the Nasdaq composite rose 36.08, or 0.3%, to 13,591.75.
General Mills fell to one of the market's larger drops after the maker of Cheerios and Haagen-Dazs reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It sank 5.2% despite reporting stronger profit than expected and giving a forecast for upcoming results that was close to Wall Street’s.
Other food companies also fell, including drops of 4% for Hershey, 3.7% for J.M. Smucker and 3.5% for Conagra Brands.
On the winning side of Wall Street was AeroVironment, which rose 4.9%. The maker of unmanned aircraft, tactical missile systems and other equipment used by the U.S. military and in Ukraine reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected. It also gave a stronger forecast for upcoming results than analysts expected amid what it called a record backlog.
Cruise operators also steamed ahead, continuing a strong year built on expectations for healthy demand for vacations. Carnival jumped 8.8% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 and has more than doubled so far this year. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings gained 7.6%, and Royal Caribbean Group gained 1.7%.
A day earlier, other travel-related stocks helped lead the market after Delta Air Lines said it's still seeing pent-up demand from fliers looking to make up for lost time during the pandemic.
Elsewhere in markets, trading was relatively quiet. Stock indexes rose in Europe and were mixed in Asia. Treasury yields fell.
The big question for markets worldwide is whether economies will continue to be able to avoid falling into recession despite the weight of much higher interest rates meant to bring down inflation.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated Wednesday that stubborn inflation means interest rates will need to stay high. The Fed has said it expects to raise rates one or two more times this year, while the European Central Bank and others have sounded even more aggressive.
But heads of Western central banks speaking at a conference in Portugal also said their economies have been more resilient than expected and they don’t foresee a contraction.
For now, the U.S. economy has been holding up better than expected thanks in large part to a remarkably resilient job market. Strong reports on consumer confidence, sales of new homes and other areas of the economy on Tuesday helped lead to a 1.1% rally for the S&P 500. Earlier this month, the S&P 500 reached its highest level since April 2022.
“Following some early week jitters, we’ve now seen a return to business-as-usual in global equities. Markets are taking some comfort from U.S. economic indicators which are showing no signs of an imminent ‘hard landing’ with regard to growth,” Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, said in a report.
Economists are increasingly hopeful a recession may be avoidable, delayed, or that contraction may be limited to specific sectors and not the entire economy.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.70% from 3.77% late Tuesday. It helps set rates for mortgages and other important loans.
The two-year yield, which moves more on expectations for the Fed, sank to 4.70% from 4.76%.
In Europe, stock indexes rose with France's CAC 40 leading the way with a 1% gain.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2% as the weakening value of the Japanese yen benefits exporters from the country. Stock indexes elsewhere in Asia moved more modestly and were mixed.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
December's jobs report was weaker than expected: the economy only added 199,000 nonfarm payrolls compared to an estimate of 422,000. However, the unemployment rate hit a new pandemic-era low of 3.9%, beating expectations. One thing to consider is the fact that the impact of the COVID-19 omicron variant is not factored into these results as the read is taken around the middle of the month. So — how might the variant impact job reports over the next few months? Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss December's jobs numbers, his 2022 labor market outlook, how COVID-19 will continue to impact the labor market, and more.
Digital medical care provider Pear Therapeutics rang the closing bell on the Nasdaq Friday and President and CEO Dr. Corey McCann, joined Cheddar to talk about how the company plans to grow the business of software-based therapeutics and how the first FDA authorized prescription digital therapeutics company will go about treating illnesses like insomnia and addiction. "These really are pieces of software. In many cases, they're apps and in the cases of our addiction products, these are based on something called cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT," he said. "These products change the patient's brain circuitry to help them be abstinent, to help them stay in treatment, and that's exactly what we see in randomized clinical trials and that's what we see in the real world." He also addressed the ongoing mental health crises brought on by the pandemic. **copy updated to remove IPO information as Pear Therapeutics went public in December**
Gamestop shares were up on The Wall Street Journal report that the video game retail company plans to enter the NFT and crypto space. Adam Hollander, the founder of Hungry Wolves NFT, joined Cheddar to break down how it could be a lifeline for the struggling meme stock darling. "They're not resigning themselves to becoming the next Blockbuster story, and so while people may not be buying as many video games in a retail environment anymore, NFTs, in particular, people are starting to expect more gaming utility on the backend — at least for a variety of projects — and I personally think its a very smart move for them to do this," Hollander told Cheddar.
On Saturday, New York will join neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut in authorizing mobile sports betting. Matt Kalish, president and co-founder of Draftkings North America, joined Cheddar to talk about the landmark change that is estimated to rake in $500 million in annual tax revenue on a potential billion-dollar market. Kalish also addressed the possibility that legalized sports betting in the Empire State could cannibalize his company's revenues in the bordering states. "It's pretty inconvenient, you know, to go across the border to make a bet. And people were doing it, but I think it really stifled a lot of the opportunity," he said. "So while there's some of that going on, I think really a tremendous amount, like a giant percent, of New York will be very incremental."
James Tattersall, director of sales and marketing for Lake Nona Wave Hotel, talks about the hotel's initiatives to foster diversity and how these amenities champion inclusivity in the Orlando area.
Desmond Howard, former NFL wide receiver and Modelo college football playoff ambassador, joins Cheddar News to talk about the Modelo sweepstakes honoring the 30th anniversary of his iconic punt return.
Satoshi Island is looking to become the world's first blockchain-driven economy. James Law, the chief architect of the planned private community, joined Cheddar to discuss the vision for the potential crypto capital of the world and how it will be brought to life. For people looking to live on the island, Law said they will be able to purchase land and homes and even design their own dwellings both in real life and via the metaverse. "Satoshi Island has already been digitally scanned. We have an absolute digital twin already in our metaverse," he said. Citizenship applications are expected to be launched via NFTs, he told Cheddar.
Satellite launch service Virgin Orbit has gone public on the Nasdaq via a SPAC merger with NextGen Acquisitions with a valuation of about $3.2 billion. CEO Dan Hart joined Cheddar's "Between Bells" from in front of his LauncherOne rocket in New York City's Times Square to talk about what's next after the IPO, an upcoming "Above the Clouds" mission to deliver commercial and national security payloads, and the benefits of their rockets being launched from commercial 747 aircraft. "We can launch anywhere in the world," he said. "There are almost 80 space agencies across the world, for instance, and about 10 of them have space launch. We can give them a space flight capability overnight by taking a runway and turning it into a spaceport."
CEO Tim Cook made a staggering $98.7 million in total compensation for 2021. The majority of Cook's earnings came from stocks along with his salary of $3 million. Apple recently became the first publicly traded U.S. company to have crossed the $3 trillion valuation mark.
Tech and entertainment giant Sony appears to be getting serious about automaking. An electric concept SUV — the Vision S-02 — was unveiled at CES 2022 and is slated to be produced by a new subdivision, Sony Mobility. This comes after the company revealed the Vision S concept Sedan at CES 2020.
