Stocks Rested After S&P 500 and Nasdaq Advanced Five Consecutive Days

Barry Adams
21 Nov, 2023
New York City

Stock futures edged lower, and investors awaited another batch of earnings and the Federal Reserve meeting minutes.

The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq advanced for five days in a row after two popular benchmark indexes advanced in Monday's trading.

Investors reviewed earnings from Zoom Video and Lowe's Companies and are awaiting results from Nvidia, Dell, and HP later in the day.

The Federal Reserve is also scheduled to release the minutes of a two-day meeting ending November 1 at 2 p.m. ET.

Market participants are hoping to get more clues in the decision-making of policymakers' and looking for signs of the rate path ahead.

Most investors are anticipating the Federal Reserve holding rates for the third time in a row after the December meeting, providing a stable rate outlook all the way to the end of January 2024, when policymakers are scheduled to gather again.

 

U.S. Indexes and Yields

The S&P 500 index edged up 0.01% to 4,547.03, and the Nasdaq Composite increased 0.02% to 14,284.05.

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes increased to 4.91%, 10-year Treasury notes inched higher to 4.42%, and 30-year Treasury bonds edged higher to 4.56%.

Crude oil decreased $0.35 to $77.46 a barrel, and natural gas prices fell 0.1 cent to $2.88 a thermal unit.

Gold increased $8.88 to $1,987.08 an ounce after Treasury yields dropped further away from 2007-highs of 5% reached in October.

The dollar index, which weighs the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, edged lower to 103.34.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

Lowe's Companies dropped 5.3% to $193.59 after the home improvement retailer lowered its full-year sales and earnings outlook.

Net sales in the third quarter declined to $20.5 billion from $23.5 billion, net income soared to $1.8 billion from $154 million, and diluted earnings per share rose to $3.06 from 25 cents a year ago.

Earnings in the prior year included an impairment charge of $2.1 billion after the company sold its Canadian retail business.

During the quarter, the company repurchased approximately 7.3 million shares for $1.6 billion and paid $642 million in dividends.

Comparable sales in the quarter declined 7.4% after the pandemic-fueled demand for home improvement projects moderated.

The company lowered its full-year 52-week sales estimate to $86 billion from the previous estimate range of $87 billion to $89 billion.

Comparable sales are expected to decline 5% from the previously estimated range of 2% to 4%.

The company also lowered its adjusted diluted earnings per share estimate to $13.0 from the previous estimate between $13.20 and $13.60.