Early signs were pointing to a continued recovery, but Wall Street's main indexes ended up giving up their opening gains and closing in the red on Wednesday, pressured by weak “forecasts” from some companies on earnings.
The S&P 500 lost 0.77% to 5,199.52 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.60% to 38,763.45 points. Big tech companies were once again the hardest hit, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index falling 1.05% to 16,195.80 points.
The results of some listed companies revived some concerns about the state of the North American economy, and halted the recovery from the declines witnessed at the beginning of the week, which seemed to gain momentum after the positive performance of the indices on Tuesday.
Supermicro, the server company that has a partnership with Nvidia, disappointed investors with sales estimates, falling 20.14%.
Airbnb shares fell 13.38%, after citing concerns about demand for accommodations in the United States and missing revenue expectations.
Disney shares, despite making its streaming division profitable ahead of schedule for the quarter, fell 4.47% after warning of a slowdown in its theme parks unit.
However, there are more factors looming over the markets. “There have been some reassurances in recent days that things have calmed down a bit. But there are still some unknowns on the horizon, such as what remains to be unwound in the yen carry trade, as well as geopolitical setbacks,” said Charlie Ripley, chief investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management, as cited by CNBC.
Moreover, a weak North American debt auction, where demand for 10-year notes was lower than expected, will put pressure on markets, after a recovery driven by the Bank of Japan’s assurance that it will not raise interest rates again in 2018. Times of market turmoil – which has been spooking investors.
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