S&P 50 continues to climb
3M stock drags down Dow
January 23, 2024, 11:17 p.m
The hunt for records on Wall Street is entering a new round – but not for the Dow. The index of standard stocks is particularly affected by the collapse of 3M shares. The conglomerate’s profit forecast disappointed traders’ expectations.
Faced with a mixed flood of corporate balance sheets, US stock markets failed to find common direction on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Index the standard values closed 0.3 percent lower at 37,905 points. The technology-heavy one Nasdaq meanwhile, advanced 0.4 percent to 15,425 jobs. The broad one S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent to 4864 points. It was the third record close in a row for the S&P 50 index.
After the record hunt at the start of the week, driven by the technology and chip sectors, investors now remained on guard. “The market has spent quite a bit of time, and the concern is how much it has priced in rate cuts and how many, and whether it will be disappointed if those rate cuts don’t happen,” said Robert Pavlik, portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. The Fed is likely to wait until the second quarter before cutting interest rates, with June now seen as more likely than May, according to a Reuters poll.
Verizon is flying high
Investors suffered a price drop of more than eleven percent 3M cope. The industrial group forecast full-year profits that were below Wall Street estimates. Also at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) fell 1.6 percent, although the pharmaceutical company performed better than expected thanks to good business with its top drug Stelara and its medical technology division. General Electric fell almost one percent after the engine maker gave a gloomy quarterly profit forecast.
Shares in the pharmaceutical and consumer goods group Procter & Gamble However, rose by 4.1 percent. Investors liked the quarter’s increased gross profit, supported by falling raw material costs and price increases. Verizon took off after an optimistic outlook and gained 6.7 percent. Strong demand for its wireless plans and Black Friday promotions helped the provider post its highest quarterly subscriber gains in nearly two years. The telecommunications company expects adjusted earnings of between $4.50 and $4.70 per share for 2024. Analysts on average expected $4.59.