Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher Ahead Of Fed Decision

U.S. stocks opened on a strong note this morning ahead of the interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve.

The Dow traded up 1.06% to 33,898.33 while the NASDAQ rose 2.14% to 13,225.63. The S&P also rose, gaining, 1.39% to 4,321.91.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financials shares climbed by 2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included 360 DigiTech, Inc. QFIN, up 27% and Noah Holdings Limited NOAH up 24%.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 0.4%.

Top Headline

Jabil Inc JBL reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and issued strong guidance.

Jabil posted Q2 earnings of $1.68 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.47 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in $7.55 billion, versus expectations of $7.43 billion.

Jabil sees Q3 FY22 revenue of $7.9 billion - $8.5 billion, above the consensus of $7.71 billion. The company also sees non-GAAP EPS of $1.40 - $1.80 versus the consensus of $1.46. Jabil raised the FY22 revenue outlook from $31.8 billion to $32.6 billion, above the consensus of $31.85 billion. Jabil raised the non-GAAP EPS guidance from $6.55 to $7.25, above the consensus of $6.62.

Equities Trading UP

KE Holdings Inc. BEKE shares shot up 67% to $15.13. Morgan Stanley upgraded KE Holdings from Equal-Weight to Overweight and lowered the price target from $23 to $16.

Shares of iQIYI, Inc. IQ got a boost, shooting 47% to $3.10. Shares of Chinese companies traded higher following a Chinese state media report indicating China's financial stability and development committee urged market stability measures and mentioned cooperation with US regulators.

Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Limited KC shares were also up, gaining 48% to $4.78. Kingsoft Cloud said it is weighing a dual listing of shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Equities Trading DOWN

Incannex Healthcare Limited IXHL shares tumbled 38% to $20.99 after jumping 55% on Tuesday.

Shares of Bird Global, Inc. BRDS were down 17% to $2.90 after reporting Q4 results. The company also gave Q1 and FY22 guidance.

Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. DRCT was down, falling 15% to $2.2999.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $97.39, while gold traded down 0.7% to $1,916.90.

Silver traded down 1% Wednesday to $24.92 while copper rose 2.5% to $4.6235.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 2.5%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.3%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.7%. The German DAX climbed 2.6%, French CAC 40 jumped 3.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 2.8%.

French consumer price inflation rate accelerated to 3.6% year-over-year in February from 2.9% in the prior month. The UK unemployment rate fell to 3.9% during the three months to January 2022, recording the lowest level in two years, while number of people in work dropped by 12,000 on quarter to 32.493 million.

Economics

Retail sales in the US rose 0.3% month-over-month in February.

The price index for US imports rose 1.4% from a month ago in February, while export prices rose 3.0% in February.

US business inventories rose 1.1% from a month ago in January.

The NAHB housing market index dropped to a six-month low of 79 in March from 81 in the previous month.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET. Analysts are expecting for an incremental 25-basis-point rate-hike during the meeting.

The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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Check out the full economic calendar here

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 81,244,930 cases with around 992,300 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 42,998,930 cases and 516,100 deaths, while Brazil reported over 29,432,270 COVID-19 cases with 655,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 462,350,160 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,075,650 deaths.