Wall Street Poised For Second Day Of Gains While Bank Of Japan Makes Reassurances; Dollar Strengthens Against Yen, Crude Prices Surge: What's Driving Markets Wednesday?

Zinger Key Points
  • The U.S. dollar's 2% rise against the yen, its largest since June 2022, renews interest in yen-dollar carry trades among traders.
  • Oil prices surge 3.6% to $75 a barrel following a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories, boosting energy stocks.

The U.S. stock market is poised for its second consecutive day of gains, aiming to reverse the sell-off that occurred through Monday as investors assess the ongoing earnings season and welcome reassuring comments from the Bank of Japan.

Deputy Gov. Shinichi Uchida stated the central bank will avoid raising interest rates during times of market volatility, easing fears sparked last week by a rate hike from the Bank of Japan coupled with growing concerns about a potential U.S. recession.

The U.S. dollar surged 2% against the Japanese yen, marking its largest one-day increase since June 2022 and reigniting trader interest in the yen-dollar carry trade strategy.

Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were 1% by midday trading in New York. The Dow Jones and the Russell 2000 notched smaller gains, up 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

Treasury yields rose again by about 5 basis points across the curve, sending bond-related assets down. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT fell 0.4% after tumbling 2.2% on Tuesday.

Oil shined among commodities, with the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light crude soaring 3.6% to $75 a barrel, after the Energy Information Administration report showed a larger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. Natural gas prices were also up by over 4% amid forecasts of warmer weather leading speculators to expect higher electricity consumption for cooling. As a result, energy stocks rallied.

Gold inched 0.2% higher, while silver slightly eased by 0.1%. Bitcoin BTC/USD was flat for the day.

Wednesday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs

Major IndicesPrice1-day %chg
Nasdaq 10018,276.871.1%
S&P 5005,296.841.1%
Dow Jones39,279.710.7%
Russell 20002,072.520.5%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

  • The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was trading 2.2% higher to $528.42.
  • The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.7% to $392.87.
  • The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ rose 1.2% to $444.83.
  • The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rose 0.6% to $205.57.
  • 10 out of 11 sectors of the S&P 500 saw gains, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE leading the way, up by 2%. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund XLV was the only one in the red, down by 0.2%.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

  • Enphase Energy Corp. ENPH rallied over 6%, after BNP Paribas upgraded the stock to Outperform with $144 price target.

Stocks reacting to company earnings included:

  • Amgen Inc. AMGN, down 4.3%.
  • Airbnb Inc. ABNB down over 12%,
  • Axon Enterprises Inc. AXON up over 18%,
  • CVS Health Corp. CVS down 0.4%,
  • Emerson Electric Company EMR down 5.6%,
  • Fortinet Inc. FTNT up over 25%,
  • Illumina Inc. ILMN up 8.9%,
  • Hilton Worlwide Holdings Inc. HLT down 1.7%,
  • Novo Nordisk A/S NVO down over 6%,
  • Reddit Inc. RDDT down over 5%,
  • Rivian Automotive Inc. RIVN down 3.6%,
  • Shopify Inc. SHOP up 23%,
  • Super Micro Computer Inc. SMCI down 16.04%
  • Walt Disney Company DIS, down 2.61%,
  • Wynn Resort Ltd. WYNN down 0.22%.

Companies reporting after the close are AppLovin Corporation APP, Bumble Inc. BMBL, Beyond Meat, Inc. BYND, Blink Charging Co. BLNK, Fastly Inc. FSLY, Forward Air Corp FWRD, HubSpot, Inc. HUBS, Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. KLIC, Marathon Oil Corp MRO, Monster Beverage Corp MNST, Occidental Petroleum Corp OXY, Robinhood Markets, Inc. HOOD and Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. WBD.

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The image was made using artificial intelligence MidJourney.

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