Small Caps Rally, Magnificent 7 Ease, Gold Eyes $2,200, Bitcoin Falls Below $69,000: What's Driving Markets Wednesday?

Wall Street witnessed a mixed session on Wednesday morning trading, with tech giants seeing slight declines while blue chips and small caps recording gains.

The S&P 500 index climbed back above the 5,200-point mark, up by 0.2%, while the Dow Jones saw a 0.5% increase, and the Nasdaq experienced a marginal 0.1% dip.

A basket of the Magnificent Seven, as tracked by the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF MAGS, dropped by 0.8%.

Small caps rallied, with the iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rising by 1.2%, marking the strongest performance of the past week.

On the macro front, there was a slight decrease in 30-year mortgage rates from 6.98% to 6.93%, as reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. However, new mortgage applications experienced a weekly decline of 0.7%.

Treasury yields across the curve dropped by 3 basis points, providing support for gold, which rose by 0.5% to $2,190 per ounce. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT inched 0.6% higher.

Bitcoin BTC/USD slipped 1.4% below the 69,000 mark, reaching an intraday low of 68,380.

Wednesday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg
Russell 2000	2,091.84	1.3%
Dow Jones	39,497.24	0.5%
S&P 500	5,223.58	0.4%
Nasdaq 100	18,214.24	0.0%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.3% higher to $520.78, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA fell 0.5% to $393.92 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ held steady at $443.33, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

Sector-wise, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund XLRE were the top performers for the day, up 2% and 1.8%, while the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK was the laggard, showing a flat reading.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

• nCino, Inc. NCNO rallied nearly 19% after stronger-than-expected quarterly results.
• Other companies reacting to earnings reports were GameStop Corp. GME, down 15%, Progress Software Corporation PRGS, down 1.2%, Cintas Corp. CTAS, up 9%, Carnival Corp. CCL, up 2.6%, Lands End Inc. LE, up 12%, Sonida Senior Living Inc. SNDA.
• Celsius Holdings Inc. CELH saw a nearly 8% drop after the energy-drink company amended its distribution agreement with PepsiCo Inc. PEP, adding an incentive program that boosts Pepsi’s margins on the sales of Celsius’ beverages.
• SL Green Realty Corp. SLG rallied 5.3% after Barclays upgraded the stock from ‘Underweight’ to ‘Equalweight,’ raising the price target from $38 to $45.
• Companies set to report after market close are Jefferies Financial Group Inc. JEFF, RH Inc. RH, H.B. Fuller Company FUL, Braze Inc. BRZE, Chemours Company CC and Sprinklr Inc. CXM.

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Image: Midjourney