S&P 500, Nasdaq Slip As Tech Underperforms, Oil Reacts to OPEC+: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

Thursday’s trading session on Wall Street presents a mixed picture, characterized by notable fluctuations in major indices. While tech-heavy benchmarks like the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 are experiencing declines, blue-chip stocks and small caps are treading the path of marginal gains.

The market mood remains somewhat subdued in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s favored measure of inflation delivering a relatively uneventful report.

The annual Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation rate in the United States has eased to 3% in October 2023, aligning with analysts’ expectations and reaching levels not observed since March 2021. This marks a decline from the previous September’s figure of 3.4%. Monthly, the PCE remained stagnant, coming in below the expected 0.1%.

WTI crude oil prices experienced a highly volatile session, dropping to as low as $75 per barrel before recovering to $76.9 at the time of this writing. While the OPEC+ cartel collectively agreed to implement an additional 1 million barrel-a-day reduction in oil output, the details of individual member cuts are yet to be disclosed. Meanwhile, Brazil is set to become a member of the OPEC+ group starting from January 2024.

Treasury yields saw an increase, and bond prices moved lower. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT) fell 0.8%. The dollar surged 0.6%, aided by weaker-than-expected inflation in the euro area, rekindling speculations of ECB rate cuts next year.

Performance Of US Stock Indices Thursday

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (ARCA: SPY) edged 0.1% down to $454.28.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA) rose 0.8% to $357.37. 
• The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) fell 0.68% to $387.12.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rose 0.3% to $179.95, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Chart Of The Day: OPEC+ Fails To Boost Oil Prices

Sector, Industry ETF Performance

Sector-wise, financials and healthcare rose the most, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLF) and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV), up 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively.

Growth-linked sectors such as the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLC), the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) were the underperformers, down 1.2%, 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively.

Industry-wise, gains were concentrated in biotech companies, with the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (NYSE:XBI) up 2.5%

Semiconductors were the main laggard, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) down 1.7%.

4,200 Points For S&P 500 Index

Among the major investment firms that have released their outlooks for the U.S. stock market in 2024, JPMorgan Chase & Co. stands out with a bearish stance. The firm’s analysts forecast a price target of 4,200 points for the S&P 500 index, implying an 8% decline from current prices.

JPMorgan’s view is rooted in valuations deemed excessively high relative to fundamentals and a pessimistic outlook on the earnings trend of American companies.

Read Also: Chilling 2024 S&P 500 Outlook: Why JPMorgan Analysts Project Nightmare Scenario For Stocks

Stocks In Focus

• Stocks reacting to earnings include Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA) (down over 4%), PVH Corp. (NYSE:PVH) (up over 7%), Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) (up over 6%), Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) (up over 5%), Zuora, Inc. (NYSE:ZUO) (up nearly 9%), The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) (up over 2%) and Victoria’s Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO) (up over 16%).
• Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) fell over 3%, as company announced a weaker profit guidance due to UAW strikes.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) rose nearly 2% after announcing on Thursday that it has broadened its partnership with chipmaker Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) to develop an enterprise computing solution tailored for generative artificial intelligence. The semiconductor giant fell 3.2%.
• Those reporting after the market close include Ambarella, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMBA), Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL), PagerDuty, Inc. (NYSE:PD), Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA), UiPath Inc. (NYSE:PATH) and Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ).

Commodities, Other Global Equity Markets And Crypto

The United States Oil Fund, LP (NYSE:USO), which tracks the performance of light sweet crude, was 1.5% lower.

Gold, as monitored through the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD), inched 0.3% lower to $2,037/oz. Silver edged 0.9% higher to $25.23.

European equity indices inched higher, aided by larger speculative bets on ECB rate cuts in 2024. However, the currency-unhedged SPDR DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETF (NYSE:FEZ) fell 0.4% as the dollar strengthened 0.6% against the euro.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was 0.3% lower to $37,737, while Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) rose 0.5% to $2,039.

Shanthi Rexaline contributed to this report.

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