US Stocks Mixed Ahead Of Fed Meeting, Chipmakers Tumble After AMD Earnings, Bitcoin Sinks: What's Driving Markets Wednesday?

Traders are treading cautiously in Wednesday’s session, seeking more clarity on the Federal Reserve’s stance with inflation reports exceeding expectations.

The forthcoming Federal Open Market Committee statement is anticipated to maintain interest rates where they are and possibly unveil a reduction in the Fed’s balance sheet runoff from $60 billion to $30 billion monthly. Fed Chair Jerome Powell‘s press conference is at 2:30 p.m. ET.

The S&P 500 inched 0.2% lower, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 underperformed, down 0.6%. Blue chips managed to avoid losses and showcased a 0.3% rise.

Aside from Fed policy, earnings remain a key driver of market sentiment, particularly as chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD offered less optimistic second-quarter guidance than expected. This news led to a nearly 10% drop in its share price. In sympathy, the broader industry saw a decline, with heavyweight Nvidia Corp. NVDA also experiencing a more than 5% decrease in its shares.

Data-wise, the ADP National Employment Report revealed a stronger-than-expected private jobs addition in April, ahead of the highly awaited official jobs report on Friday. The ISM Manufacturing Index surprisingly fell back into contraction territory, missing expectations.

Sentiment on the cryptocurrency market continued to remain fragile, with Bitcoin BTC/USD sinking over 5%, on track for a two-day, 10% slump, the worst since November 2022.

Wednesday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY fell 0.2% to $501.04, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.3% to $379.38 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ fell 0.6% to $422.21, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

Sector-wise, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU outperformed, up 1.2%, followed by the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund XLC, up 1.1%. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE was the major laggard, down 1.6%.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

• Starbucks Corp. SBUX plummeted over 16% in reaction to its earnings report.
• Other companies reacting to earnings were Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, up 1.2%, Stryker Corp. SIK, Mondelez International Inc. MDLZ down 1.6%, Mastercard Inc. MA down 1%, Pfizer Inc. PFE, The Estee Lauder Companies EL, down 13%, Pinterest Inc. PINS up nearly 20%, New York Community Bancorp NYCB up over 30% and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. NCLH down nearly 14%.
• Notable names reporting after the close are Albemarle Corporation ALB, The Allstate Corporation ALL, Beazer Homes USA, Inc. BZH, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. CHRW, Devon Energy Corporation DVN, eBay Inc. EBAY, Etsy, Inc. ETSY, First Solar, Inc. FSLR, Freshworks Inc. FRSH, Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. KLIC, Marathon Oil Corporation MRO, MetLife, Inc. MET, MGM Resorts International MGM, NETGEAR, Inc. NTGR, Qorvo, Inc. QRVO, Sunnova Energy International Inc. NOVA, Upwork Inc. UPWK, Wolfspeed, Inc. WOLF and Zillow Group, Inc. ZG.

Read now: April Jobs Report Preview: Bank Of America Anticipates Solid Payrolls Growth, Rising Wage Pressures

Illustration created using artificial intelligence via MidJourney.