Stocks took a modest downturn after a report revealed a slight downward revision in the U.S. economic growth rate for the last quarter of the year.
This revision was mainly due to adjustments in inventory figures, despite signs of strong household spending and investment.
As markets await the Federal Reserve’s inflation data scheduled for Thursday morning, major equity indices displayed a downward trend on Wednesday, with the exception of the outperforming real estate sector.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH experienced a significant decline of over 4% due to an antitrust investigation initiated by the Department of Justice against America’s largest health insurer.
Despite the overall market slide, both the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields remained relatively stable.
Bitcoin BTC/USD shone as a bright spot, surging over 7% to surpass $61,000 fueled by robust ETF inflows, positioning the leading cryptocurrency within striking distance of its all-time high from 2021.
Insights on Major Indices and ETFs Performance
| Major Indices | Price | 1-day %chg |
| S&P 500 | 5,067.13 | -0.2% |
| Dow Jones | 38,886.64 | -0.2% |
| Russell 2000 | 203.25 | -0.4% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 17,860.98 | -0.6% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY dipped by 0.3% to $505.60, while the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU surged by 1.3%, outperforming other sectors.
Highlights of Wednesday’s Stock Movements
- Axon Enterprise Inc. AXON soared 14% following better-than-expected quarterly results.
- Boston Beer Company Inc. SAM plummeted over 18% due to disappointing quarterly performance.
- Several other companies responded to earnings reporting, with eBay Inc. EBAY, up nearly 8%, Agilent Technologies Inc. A, up 4%, and First Solar Inc. FSLR, up over 2%, among others.
- Chinese ADRs experienced across-the-board declines following Baidu Inc.‘s BIDU weaker-than-expected revenue results, with shares of retail giant Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. BABA dropping 3.4%, JD.com Inc. JD falling 4.4%, and PDD Holdings Inc. PDD declining 2%.
- Companies releasing earnings after market close include Salesforce Inc. CRM, Snowflake Inc. SNOW, and other major players.
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Image created using artificial intelligence with Midjourney.
