Stock losses accelerated into the close on Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve revealed “most” officials still see upside risks to inflation, while a retail-heavy week continued with a gloomy outlook from Target (TGT).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was roughly down about 0.5%, or 180 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was down nearly 0.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was down more than 1% for a second straight day.
Target took center stage Wednesday morning as the retailer slashed its full-year profit outlook and issued a warning about general economic malaise.
The company cited rising interest rates and uncertainty from the restart of student loan repayments as factors that may continue to affect its bottom line. However, the stock jumped more than 3% as it revealed a profit jump.
In the afternoon, minutes from the Fed’s meeting last month showed most officials still see upside risks to inflation while a “couple” of officials didn’t want to raise rates in July. The central bank raised interest rates to their highest point since 2001 at that meeting.
Investors were looking for any clues as to what the Fed might do at its meeting next month. At this point, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, nearly 90% of traders expect the bank to hold rates steady, a slight dip from before the release of the minutes.
In other economic news, July housing starts for both new single- and multi-family units increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.452 million units, 5.9% higher from a year ago, according to Census Bureau data out Wednesday. That pace just exceeded the 1.450 million units economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected.
Still, the latest builder sentiment dipped for the first time in August, after seven consecutive months of increases.
Trending tickers on Wednesday
Target (TGT) led the Yahoo Finance trending tickers page on Wednesday. Shares of the retailer gained more than 2% after the company’s quarterly results came in largely better than feared, including improved gross margin and shrinking inventories. However, the company slashed its full-year profit outlook.
Shares of VinFast Auto (VFS) fell nearly 20% after shares of the EV automaker surged following its Nasdaq trading debut.
Cava (CAVA) stock was up more than 1% after the company reported its first profitable quarter. Revenue grew 62.4% compared to the prior quarter, jumping to $171.1 million from $105.3 million.
Coinbase (COIN) was near flat after the crypto currency exchange said it received regulatory approval to offer US retail customers regulated crypto futures in the coming months.
Source: finance.yahoo.com