U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Wednesday after a choppy session. Market participants monitored the outcome of the U.S.-China trade negotiations in London. A softer-then-expected key inflation data failed to bolstered investors’ sentiments. All three major stock indexes ended in negative territory.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 1.10 points to close at 42,865.77. Notably, 20 components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory and 10 finished in negative zone. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 19,615.88, declining 0.5% due to weak performance of technology bigwigs.
The major loser of the tech-laden index was Intel Corp. INTC. The stock price of the PC chipset giant tumbled 6.3%. Intel currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to finish at 6,022.24, terminating a three-day winning streak. Wall Street’s most observed benchmark is currently less than 2% away from its all-time high. Seven out of 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index ended in negative territory while four in positive zone.
The Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector (SPDR) fell 1% and 0.8%, respectively. On the other hand, the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) rose 1.5%.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 1.8% to 17.26. A total of 18.9 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 17.8 billion. The S&P 500 recorded 11 new 52-week highs and 2 new 52-week lows. The Nasdaq registered 80 new 52-week highs and 43 new 52-week lows.
Economic Data
The Department of Labor reported that the consumer price index (CPI) for May increased 0.1%, less-than-the consensus estimate of 0.2%. The metric for April was also 0.2%. Year over year, CPI rose 2.4% in May.
Core CPI (excluding volatile food and energy items) also rose 0.1% in May, well below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 0.3%. The metric for April was 0.2%. Year over year, core CPI rose 2.9% in May. The CPI and core CPI data are yet to show any impact of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
For the week ended Jun 6, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the strategic petroleum reserve) decreased by 3.6 million barrels from the previous week.
U.S-China Trade Deal in Focus
The United States and China reached an agreement for trade and tariffs after two days of high-level meeting in London. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said “We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents.” This was echoed by Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative and a vice minister at China’s Commerce Ministry.
President Donald Trump said that the deal with China is “done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me.” President Trump further said that “WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%.” On May 12, the United States and China have decided to for a 90-day pause of tariff implementations. The two countries agreed in a discussion in Switzerland. Market participants are keenly waiting for the final deal to be signed by both Presidents.
U.S. was seeking confirmation that China would restore critical mineral (rear earth) exports. Beijing protested against the U.S. Commerce Department’s warnings to U.S. chipset manufacturers against using Chinese semiconductors.
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Intel Corporation (INTC): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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