Yahoo Finance Stock Market News for Mar 28, 2024
Wall Street closed sharply higher on Wednesday terminating a three-day losing streak. Investors waited for a key inflation data to be published this week and at the same time remained optimistic that the Fed will start cutting the benchmark interest rate from June. All three major stock indexes ended in positive territory. U.S. stock markets will remain closed on Friday on account of Good Friday.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) surged 1.2% or 477.75 points to close at 39,760.08. Notably, 23 components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory and 7 ended in negative zone. The blue-chip index posted its best daily performance since Dec 13. The index is less than 1% away to breach the crucial technical barrier of 40,000 in its history.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 16,399.52, rising 0.5% due to strong performance by technology bigwigs. The S&P 500 gained 0.9% to finish at 5,248.49, marking a fresh closing high. All 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index ended in positive territory.
The Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE), the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU), the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI), the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) increased 2.5%, 2.8, 1.6%, 1.4% and 1.5%, respectively.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 3.5% to 12.78. A total of 10.65 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 12.2 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 4.5-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.68-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Key Inflation Data in Focus
The Department of Labor reported hotter-than-expected Consumer price index (CPI), producer price index (PPI), core CPI and core PPI data for February. These inflation data created fluctuation in U.S. stock markets in mid-march.
However, the personal consumption expenditure price index (PCE inflation) data and core PCE inflation data of February will be released on Mar 29. The core PCE inflation data is the Fed’s most favorite inflation gauge.
Nevertheless, on Jun 20, in his post-FOMC meeting statement, the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that the central is likely to opt for three rate cuts of 25 basis points each in 2024. The CME Fedwatch tool currently shows a probability of more than 70% that the first rate cut will happen in June FOMC meeting. This probability was 60% before the March FOC meeting.
Mixed Earnings Results
GameStop Corp. GME posted fourth-quarter fiscal 2023 adjusted earnings per share of $0.22 per share compared with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.25 per share. The company reported net sales of $1,793.6 million, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,000 million. The stock price of GME plunged 15%.
Concentrix Corp. CNXC came out with quarterly earnings of $2.57 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.58 per share. The company reported first quarter fiscal 2024 revenues of $2.4 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1%. The stock price of CNXC climbed 4.8%.
Carnival Corp. & plc CCL came out with a quarterly loss of $0.14 per share narrower-than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.18 per share. The company posted revenues of $5.41 billion for first quarter fiscal 2024, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.02%. The stock price of CCL rose 0.9%.
Cintas Corp. CTAS reported third-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings of $3.84 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.56. Total revenues of $2,406.2 million outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,379 million. The stock price of CTAS jumped 8.3%.
All four stocks currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Economic Data
The Energy Information Administration that U.S. commercial crude stockpiles, excluding the strategic petroleum reserve, rose by 3.2 million barrels for the week ending Mar 22.
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