US Stocks Edge Lower Ahead Of Fed's Decision; General Mills Earnings Top Views

Author: Avi Kapoor | March 20, 2024 10:53am

U.S. stocks traded slightly lower this morning, ahead of interest-rate decision from the Federal Reserve.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.01% to 39,106.88 while the NASDAQ fell 0.06% to 16,157.27. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.02% to 5,177.26.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Utilities shares rose by 0.5% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 0.5%.

 

Top Headline

 

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.

General Mills reported a third-quarter FY24 sales decline of 1% year-on-year to $5.099 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $4.962 billion. Adjusted EPS of $1.17 beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.05.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

ETAO International Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:ETAO) shares shot up 106% to $0.2950. The company announced a reverse stock split.

Shares of XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ:XTLB) got a boost, surging 78% to $1.83 after the company announced plans to acquire The Social Proxy.

TruGolf Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRUG) shares were also up, gaining 65% to $1.8998 after the company announced a newly expanded AI technology licensing agreement with mlSpatial.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFCR) shares dropped 35% to $4.65 after the company announced it concluded its strategic evaluation process, announced management succession and board changes.

Shares of NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE:SMR) were down 24% to $5.01. NuScale Power shares dipped around 35% on Tuesday after Wells Fargo downgraded the stock from Equal-Weight to Underweight and lowered its price target from $7.50 to $4.50.

Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ:MNTS) was down, falling 21% to $0.4715, reversing after spiking 17% on Tuesday following a US patent grant.

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Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.1% to $81.73 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,161.60.

Silver traded down 0.2% to $25.075 on Wednesday, while copper fell 0.4% to $4.0565.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.4% The German DAX rose 0.1% French CAC 40 fell 0.6% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.1%.

Industrial production in Italy declined by 1.2% month-over-month in January compared to a revised 1.2% surge in December. Producer prices in Germany fell by 4.1% year-over-year in February.

UK’s producer prices increased by 0.4% year-over-year in February, while inflation rate eased to 3.4% year-over-year in February.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.08%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.55% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.1%.

The People's Bank of China held benchmark lending rates at the recent fixing.

 

Economics

 

U.S. mortgage applications declined by 1.6% on the week ending March 15.

Crude oil inventories in the U.S. declined by 1.952 million barrels in the week ended March 15, versus market estimates of a 0.013 million gain.

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Posted In: ETAO GIS LFCR MNTS SMR TRUG XTLB