Wall Street Faces Selling Pressure, Nvidia Investors Pull Back Ahead Of Earnings, Fed Minutes: What's Driving Markets Tuesday?

Author: Piero Cingari | February 20, 2024 02:46pm

Wall Street reopened on a weaker note following Monday’s market closure, with all major U.S. stock averages in the red due to a broad decline in technology stocks.

As of midday Tuesday, the Nasdaq 100 had fallen by 1.5% after closing 0.9% lower on Friday, marking its worst two-day streak since late January.

Investors are focusing on key market events scheduled for Wednesday, including the release of the latest minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee and Nvidia‘s earnings report after the market closes.

The chipmaker giant’s shares plummeted by 6% on Tuesday, marking its worst-performing session since late 2022. Its peer Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), experienced an even steeper decline, falling by 6.5%. Among the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks, only Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) managed to avoid losses, posting a modest gain of 0.3%. Tesla tumbled over 5%, potentially marking its worst session since late January.

Tuesday’s market movements were not driven by concerns over fewer interest rate cuts on the horizon than anticipated. Interest rate expectations in the money markets remained largely unchanged from Friday, with traders pricing in a full percentage point of cuts by December 2024. Treasury yields dropped by about 5 basis points across key maturities and the U.S. dollar remained stable.

Instead, it appears that a reassessment of broader stock valuations is underway, as the forward price-to-earnings ratios for both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 continues to exceed five-year averages.

Tuesday's Performance In Major Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	%
Dow Jones	38,486.50	-0.4%
S&P 500	4,962.37	-0.9%
Nasdaq 100	17,427.99	-1.5%
Russell 2000	198.56	-1.5%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 0.8% lower to $495.31, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) fell 0.3% to $384.93 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) fell 1.4% to $424.60, according to Benzinga Pro data.

The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK), was the notable underperformer, down by 1.8%, while the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) was the top gainer, up 1%.

Tuesday’s Stock Movers

• Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) rose over 3% on better-than-expected company results in the last quarter of 2023, hitting fresh all-time highs and the strongest one-day surge since November 2022. The retailer giant also announced plans to acquire smart-TV maker Vizio Holding Corp. (NYSE:VZIO)
• Logistic company Expeditors International of Washington Inc. (NYSE:EXPD) fell 6.5% after the company missed both revenue and profit forecasts last quarter.
• Other companies reacting to earnings were Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD), down 0.3%, Westlake Chemical Partners LP (NYSE:WLKP), down 0.8%, CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNP), up 0.3%.
• Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) rose by over 14% following the announcement that Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) plans to acquire the credit card issuer in an all-stock deal valued at $35.3 billion.
• Large-cap companies reporting after the market close on Tuesday are Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW), Public Storage (NYSE:PSA), Realty Income Corp. (NYSE:O), Costar Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP), Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) and Keysight Technologies Inc. (NYSE:KEYS)

Read now: Walmart Q4 Performance: Revenue And EPS Surprise, Dividend Hike, VIZIO Buyout And More

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Posted In: AMD CNP COF CSGP DFS DIA EXPD FANG GOOGL HD KEYS O PANW PSA QQQ SPY VZIO WLKP WMT XLC