New York Stock Exchange, Wall street, Manhattan, New York, USA (Getty Images)
Wall Street's major stock indexes closed mixed Tuesday, as more big companies delivered their financial results for the last three months of 2022 amid lingering concerns about a potential recession.
The S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1%, its second loss in three trading days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%. Small company stocks also lost ground, with the Russell 2000 shedding 0.3%
The decline for major indexes marked a reversal from Monday, when a tech company-driven rally more than made up for the S&P 500's losses last week.
Stocks have been volatile as investors try to get a better sense of how inflation is affecting the economy, the potential for a recession and whether the Federal Reserve can ease up on its aggressive interest rate increases.
The latest batch of earnings show that companies continue to struggle with the effects of inflation on consumers and supply chains.
Post-it notes and industrial coatings maker 3M fell 6.2% for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks after reporting weak fourth-quarter earnings and announcing job cuts. It is the latest company to announce layoffs as consumers get squeezed by inflation and worries grow about a bigger pullback in spending and a possible recession.
Union Pacific fell 3.3% after reporting disappointing earnings and revenue.
Microsoft rose 4% in afterhours trading after the software and technology giant reported earnings that topped Wall Street's forecasts. It closed down 0.2% in regular trading.
All told, the S&P 500 slipped 2.86 points to 4,016.95. The Nasdaq gave up 30.14 points to close at 11,334.27, while the Dow added 104.40 points to 33,733.96.
The Russell 2000 index of small companies slid 5.16 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 1,885.61.
U.S. crude oil prices settled 1.8% lower.
Trading in more than a dozen companies was temporarily halted on the New York Stock Exchange after an apparent technical issue caused wide swings in their stock prices right as the market opened. Shares in Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, AT&T and other companies moved sharply at the open, triggering a halt in trading. The prices corrected after trading resumed. The NYSE says it is investigating the “reported issues” and all systems are now operational.
Markets have been swinging between hope and caution as investors watch to see if the Fed will adjust its inflation-fighting strategy. The central bank has already pulled its key overnight rate up to a range of 4.25% to 4.5% from virtually zero early last year.
The Fed will announce its next rate increase on Feb. 1 and traders expect a quarter-point raise, which would mark a softening of the central bank's pace.
“Where the market and the Fed are having a fairly violent disagreement right now is how long are they going to leave rates at around 5%?” said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments.
Long-term bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, fell to 3.46% from 3.52% late Monday.
Wall Street will get a few economic updates this week that could provide more insight into inflation's impact.
The government will release gross domestic product data for the fourth-quarter on Thursday. Economists expect less than 1% of growth, following 1.9% growth in the third quarter and a contraction during the first half of 2022. Investors will get more updates on personal spending and income on Friday.
——
Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
CPI rose 7% from a year prior in December, showing that inflation has continued to increase at its fastest pace since June 1982. Consumers are feeling the pressure when it comes to food, apparel, and used car prices, but got some relief in December as energy prices ticked slightly lower month-over-month. How will this ongoing inflation streak impact U.S. monetary policy as the Federal Reserve says it's prepared to implement aggressive tactics like raising interest rates? John Leer, Chief Economist at Morning Consult, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss December's CPI data, what it means for consumers, how the Federal Reserve can help limit inflation, and more.
One startup is working to reverse climate change one seed at a time. Terraformation is a global forest accelerator that provides tools, training, financing, and business support to help scale forest restoration projects worldwide. Forests naturally absorb carbon and Terraformation says that reforestation is a safe, low-cost, and scalable solution to the climate crisis. Yee Lee, VP of growth at Terraformation, joins Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Back in February 2021, Twitter announced its three-year plan to double development velocity, to reach 315 million monetizable users, and double its total annual revenue. Chief Customer Officer Sarah Personette, joined Cheddar to discuss where the social media giant stands now a year after the announcement. "The progress against all three of those pillars has been substantial, and we'll continue to drive that over the course of the next year and beyond," she said. Personette also discussed the leadership of Twitter's CEO Parag Agrawal who took over for founder Jack Dorsey late in 2021.
Tony Horton, fitness guru and creator of the famous P90X workout joins Cheddar News to discuss how people can stay focused and maintain fitness in the new year.
Meet Corrine Tan, American Girl’s 2022 Girl of the Year. Corrine is the first doll of Chinese descent from the company, debuting in response to a rise in hate crimes against the Asian American community. Jamie Cygielman, president and general manager of American Girl, spoke to Cheddar about the long development of the character. "As the pandemic began we started to see a lot of anti-Asian sentiment across the country," she said. "We sort of blended all of these stories together to create Corinne, an outline for Corinne, and then partnered with the wonderful author Wendy Shang to help tell that story to our fans." Cygielman also touched on linking up with AAPI Youth Rising, donating $25,000 for education efforts.
Janet Phan, founder of Thriving Elements and author of 'Boldly You,' joins Cheddar News to discuss the importance of being a mentor and how her organization is helping the next generation of STEM leaders.
Jobs website Glassdoor has released its annual Best Places to Work list with Nvidia, HubSpot, and Bain & Company. While the tech sector holds 40 percent of the rankings, Facebook parent company Meta notably dropped 36 places from last year.
Domino's is planning ahead for surging food costs, anticipating an 8 to 10 percent rise due to inflation and labor shortages. The pizza chain will be changing promotions to offset the overhead, such as making some of its discounts online orders only.
A record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in November as people continue to take advantage of red hot job market. The resignation rate is now the highest in the two decades the government has kept records, with many people voluntarily leaving their current jobs for other opportunities. Harley Lippman, CEO of Genesis 10, discusses how why so many people are quitting their jobs right now, and how the tech sector is being impacted.
