What Happened: In the lead-up to the FOMC meeting — scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Jan. 31 — the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 slipped 1.4%. This marked its worst session since early January.
Here’s a breakdown:
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is down 6%, due to disappointing results for the quarter ending in December.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), a prominent player in the artificial intelligence space, also fell on softer-than-expected results.
The broader market, as measured by the S&P 500 index, fell 0.9%.
The pace of job growth slowed from 158,000 in December to 107,000 this month (below the expected 147,000), according to the ADP National Employment Report.
The CBOE Volatility Index, also known as the market fear gauge or VIX, rallied 8%. Bonds gained ground as investors adopted a more cautious approach. Treasury yields fell across all key maturities, with the 10-year yield falling below the 4% mark.
The popular iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT) soared 1%.
On the banking front, the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSE:KRE) fell 3.7% on track for the worst session since May 2023 amid disappointing results from New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:NYCB).
Wednesday's Performance In Major Indices, ETFs
Major Indices
Price
%
Dow Jones
38,466.45
0.0%
Russell 2000
1,980.19
-0.8%
S&P 500
4,885.26
-0.8%
Nasdaq 100
17,252.38
-1.3%
CBOE VIX
14.38
8.0%
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 0.9% lower to $486.56, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) held steady at $384.46 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) fell 1.4% to $419.13, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Sector-wise, the defensive UtilitiesSPDR Select Sector Fund (NYSE:XLU) outperformed, up 0.7%. Both the TechnologySPDRSelect Sector Fund (NYSE:XLK) and the Communication ServicesSPDRSelect Sector Fund (NYSE:XLC) underperformed, down 1.6%.
Wednesday’s Stock Movers
Alphabet Inc. fell 6.6% on its worst session in three months. While beating both revenue and earnings estimate, the tech giant delivered weaker-than-expected advertising revenue.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. fell 3.1% after broadly matching Street’s earnings estimate, but issuing a first quarter 2024 guidance below expectations. Chipmaker peers such as NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) fell 1.9% and 2% respectively.
Microsoft Corp. (NYSE:MSFT) fell 1.4%, despite reporting stronger-than-expected results last quarter and receiving several price-target boosts from sell-side analysts.
New York Community Bancorp Inc. plummeted 35% on its worst day since the company went public in 1993. The regional bank reported a loss last quarter, largely disappointing estimates of a positive net income, and revenue also surprised to the downside.
Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) rallied nearly 7% after reporting stronger-than-expected results, with the company CEO prioritizing the need to address safety and quality issues above all during the call with investors.
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP), up 2.8%.
Companies set to report their results after the closing bell Wednesday are Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), MetLife Inc. (NYSE:MET), Aflac Inc. (NYSE:AFL).