The NYSE's Honorary Opening Bell ringers, Kimberly Hardee and Tyler McMurtury of Colgate-Palmolive in Greenwood, South Carolina, virtually ring The Opening Bell on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, in New York. As pictured today on the NYSE Bell Podium, Ms. Hardee and Mr. McMurtury are working hard with Colgate-Palmolive colleagues, to make essential health and hygiene products available to protect people around the world. The NYSE joins millions of others who stand in awe and gratitude of the way people around the world have responded to the COVID-19 crisis - from medical professionals to workers who ensure food supply, and those who keep streets safe. They honor some of those people through their #Gratitude campaign. (New York Stock Exchange via AP Images)
By Stan Choe
Stocks are falling in early trading on Wall Street Wednesday, tacking on more losses to their end-of-day slide from a day before.
The market has been wavering the last couple weeks after coming off its best month in a generation, as optimism about reopening the economy collides with worries about the dangers of lifting restrictions too soon.
The S&P 500 was down 0.7% after the first 30 minutes of trading, following up on its 2.1% loss from Tuesday. Markets around the world were showing caution, with European stocks down and Asian markets mixed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 206 points, or 0.9%, to 23,448, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.4.
Treasury yields were also lower in another sign of pessimism about the economy and inflation, after swinging up and down as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned about the threat of a prolonged recession. He said the U.S. government may need to pump even more aid into the economy, which is bleeding millions of jobs every week.
But Powell also said that the Fed is not considering taking interest rates below zero, as some investors have been speculating recently.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 0.66% from 0.69% late Tuesday.
Analysts say they expect the market to remain in a wait-and-see approach for weeks as investors gauge how economic reopenings underway in areas around the world are going. Many countries and U.S. states have begun lifting restrictions on businesses that were meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak but have also sent the economy into a severe recession.
The hope that the reopenings will allow growth to resume later this year have helped drive the S&P 500 up nearly 30% since late March, but worries have been rising recently that premature liftings of lockdowns will cause resurgent waves of infections.
On Tuesday, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned that if the economy reopens too soon, it could cause a backtrack in the “road to try to get economic recovery.”
In China, where the virus first surfaced, authorities announced seven new cases on Wednesday. Six were in Jilin province, in the northeast, where alert levels were raised and rail connections suspended.
South Korea reported 26 additional cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours amid a new spike in infections linked to nightclubs in Seoul.
Pakistan, meanwhile, confirmed 2,000 new positive coronavirus cases in a single day, just days after its prime minister, Imran Khan, eased lockdown restrictions and stepped up the return of Pakistanis stranded overseas despite pleas for stricter controls by Pakistan’s medical professionals.
Companies whose profits are most closely tied to the strength of the economy had some of the market’s sharpest losses. Energy producers in the S&P 500 fell 2.5% for the largest loss among the 11 sectors that make up the index. Financial stocks lost 1.8%. They’ve been some of the market’s biggest losers this year on expectations that a coronavirus-ravaged economy will mean less demand for oil and more defaults on loans.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX lost 1.8%, and France’s CAC 40 dropped 1.9%. The FTSE 100 in London lost 1.1%.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.5%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.3% and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9%.
A barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June slipped 0.3% to $25.71 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 0.6% to $29.81 per barrel.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
