Tech and Broader Market Indexes Resumed Downward Slide After Fed Holds Rates Steady

Barry Adams
31 Jan, 2024
New York City

Weakness in tech stocks dragged market indexes lower on Wall Street, after leading tech companies reported quarterly results.

The S&P500 index and the Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 0.7% after investors decided to sell stocks of Alphabet, Microsoft, AMD, and Starbucks following their quarterly results.

The Federal Reserve held rates steady for the fourth time in a row at a  23-year high between 5.25% and 5.50% and reiterated its data-dependent hawkish stance.  

In an unanimous decision, all twelve members of the monetary policy committee voted to hold rates steady. 

The Federal Reserve pushed back against those looking for immediate rate cuts but left a door open for future rate cuts, briefly sending market indexes lower. 

"The Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent," highlighted the accompanying statement released by the Fed. 

Treasury yields inched lower after the rate announcement, as the Federal Reserve stressed that it is not ready to lower interest rates until more solid evidence emerges that indicates inflation is on a sustained path towards its target rate of 2%. 

 

U.S. Private Sector Job Growth Slows

U.S. private employers expanded payrolls by 107,000 in January 2024, lower than the downwardly revised 158,000 in December, ADP reported in its monthly survey released Wednesday.

The services sector added 77,000 jobs, while goods producers added 30,000.

The leisure and hospitality sector led the expansion with an increase of 28,000, followed by trade, transportation, and utilities with 23,000 additions, construction with 22,000, education and health services with 17,000, and financial activities with 7,000.

Manufacturing added only 6,000 jobs, and the information sector lost 9,000.

Meanwhile, wage growth continued to moderate, with employees receiving a 5.2% pay increase, lower than 5.4% in December, while those changing jobs got a 7.2% rise, the smallest annual increase since May 2021.

 

U.S. Indexes and Yields

The S&P 500 index decreased 0.7% to 4,8891.11, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.2% to 15,323.46.

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes decreased to 4.28%. 10-year Treasury notes declined to 3.98%, and 30-year Treasury bonds edged down to 4.23%.

WTI crude oil decreased $1.87 to $75.94 a barrel, and natural gas prices increased 4 cents to $2.11 a thermal unit.

Gold increased by $12.55 to $2,048.67 an ounce and extended the previous week's gains after the U.S. dollar drifted slightly lower in international trading.

The dollar index, which weighs the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, edged lower to 103.42.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

AMD dropped 6% to $161.65 after the maker of advanced semiconductors offered a weak revenue growth outlook, disappointing some investors.

Microsoft Corp. decreased 0.9% to $404.75 despite the software company reporting higher-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Revenue in the fiscal second quarter ending in December increased 18% to $62.02 billion, net income surged 33% to $21.9 billion from $17.4 billion, and diluted earnings per share advanced to $2.93 from $2.32 a year ago.

Starbucks increased 3.5% to $97.45 after the company reported quarterly results.

North America and U.S. comparable store sales increased 5%, driven by a 4% increase in average ticket sales and a 1% increase in comparable transactions.

The company lowered its full-year revenue outlook because of the competitive environment in its second-largest market, China, and rising tensions between the U.S. and China.

Because of sales weakness in China, the company lowered its fiscal year sales growth to between 7% and 10%, down from the previous estimate of between 10% and 12%.

The company reiterated its full-year earnings per share growth of between 15% and 20%.

Alphabet decreased 5.5% to $144.67 after the parent company of search engine Google reported weaker-than-expected advertising revenue in its latest quarter.

Google search revenue increased to $48 billion from $42.6 billion, and YouTube ads jumped to $9.2 billion from $7.9 billion a year ago but missed market expectations.

Walmart increased 1.1% to $167.45 after the retailer announced a 3-for-1 stock split effective on February 23.

Tesla declined 2.5% to $186.80 after a Delaware judge agreed to void the company's chief executive, Elon Musk's, $56 billion compensation package.

The ruling was delivered on Tuesday after five years of legal wrangling, prompting the judge to note that the pay package must meet rigorous standards because Musk was a controlling shareholder at the time.

 

European Markets Erase Early Gains After Tech Stocks Drop In New York 

Market indexes across Europe lacked direction but edged higher for the sixth session in a row, and investors awaited rate decisions.

The U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England are widely anticipated to hold rates steady, and policymakers are expected to reiterate their commitments to keep rates restricted to lower inflation to the target rate of 2%.

Tech stocks were under pressure after weaker-than-expected results from Microsoft, Alphabet, and AMD.

On the economic front, France's inflation dropped to a two-year low in January, Swiss retail sales decreased for the sixth month in a row in December, and the Italian jobless rate dropped to a 16-year low.

 

France's Inflation Fell to a 2-year Low

Consumer price inflation slowed to 3.1% from 3.7% in December, according to a preliminary report released by the statistical office INSEE on Wednesday.

This was the lowest inflation since January 2022.

The overall decline in inflation was driven by a weakness in inflation in food, energy, and manufactured products.

Food price inflation slowed to 5.7% from 7.2%, and the increase in energy slowed to 1.8% from 5.7%. Manufactured product inflation dropped to 0.7% from 1.4%.

Service inflation edged up slightly to 3.2% from 3.1%.

EU harmonized inflation also weakened in January, to 3.4% from 4.1% in December.

On a monthly basis, both consumer prices and the harmonized index of consumer prices fell 0.2%, in contrast to the 0.1% increase in December.

Inflation in the first half is likely to stay around 3.0% before slowing to 2%, but energy shipment disruptions could add another bout of inflation.

 

Italy's Jobless Rate Dropped to a 16-year Low

Italy's jobless rate unexpectedly dropped to 7.2% in December from a downwardly revised 7.4% in the previous month, the statistical agency ISTAT reported Wednesday.

The jobless rate fell to the lowest level in 16 years after employment picked up in the northern industrial areas.

The number of unemployed people fell by 50,000 to 1.829 million, while the number of employed individuals increased by 14,000 to 23.754 million.

Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate for job-seekers between 15 and 24 years old fell to 20.1% in December from 20.5% in November, the lowest level since July 2007.

 

Europe Indexes and Yields

The DAX index decreased 0.4% to 16,903.76, the CAC-40 index fell 0.3% to 7,656.75, and the FTSE 100 index inched lower by 0.5% to 7,630.57.

The yield on 10-year German bonds edged down to 2.20%; French bonds inched higher to 2.69%; the UK gilts edged lower to 3.87%; and Italian bonds inched lower to 3.74%.

The euro edged lower to $1.082, the British pound inched higher to $1.267, and the U.S. dollar gained to 86.28 Swiss cents.

Brent crude decreased $1.68 to $80.68 a barrel, and the Dutch TTF natural gas increased by €0.81 to €30.20 per MWh.

 

Europe Stock Movers

Atoss Software jumped 3.7% to €254.0 after the German software company reported an increase in revenue and earnings in the fiscal year 2023.

FDM Group Holdings PLC decreased 1.5% to 444.0 pence after the UK-based IT services provider reported a slight increase in its annual revenue.

Revenue for 2023 is expected to increase by 1% to £334 million from £330 million a year ago.

On a constant currency basis, revenue increased by 2%, or £7.4 million.

The number of consultants placed with clients declined by 21% to 3,892 from 4,905 in the previous year.

Banco Santander SA increased 2.4% to €3.73 after the Spanish bank estimated a higher profit in the current year.

H&M dropped 9% to SEK 151.94 after the Swedish retailer appointed a new chief executive and the company missed its operating profit estimate.

Novo Nordisk increased 0.4% to DKK 751.20 after the Danish pharmaceutical group estimated a double-digit increase in sales and operating profit growth, driven by strong demand for its diabetes drug Ozempic and weight loss drug Wegovy.

 

China Stocks Dropped to 5-year Lows, Japan and India Advanced 

Markets in China were under pressure after tech stocks led another downward day after weaker-than-expected earnings from AMD and Alphabet.

However, the indexes in Japan advanced after the release of retail sales and industrial output data.

The Nikkei 225 average advanced 0.6% to 36,286.55, and tech stocks led the gainers in Tokyo trading.

Retail trade sales increased by 2.1% from a year ago to 15.5 trillion yen in December, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry said on Wednesday.

For the fourth quarter of 2023, retail sales advanced 3.8% year over year but fell 1.7% from the previous quarter to 42.989 trillion yen.

Full-year 2023 retail sales gained 5.6% to 162.996 trillion yen.

Preliminary industrial output in Japan rose a seasonally adjusted 1.8% from the previous month in December, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry said on Wednesday.

Industrial production was down 0.7% on an annual basis.

The powerful earthquake in the Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day had little impact on industrial production data.

However, the recent halt in production at the Daihatsu plant over rigged collision-safety tests is likely to negatively impact production in January, according to the ministry.

Industrial production is expected to drop 6.2% per month in January and gain 2.2% in February.

In stock trading, Tokyo Electron, Disco, Advantest, and Keyence dropped between 2% and 3% after AMD reported sharply lower-than-expected earnings.

Elsewhere in the region, the KOSPI index decreased 0.1% to 2,497.09 and the ASX 200 index added 1% to 7,680.70.

 

Crude Oil in Focus After Red Sea Attacks Disrupt Supply Routes

Crude oil traded higher in international markets in the hopes that demand growth will rebound in China after the government pledged more policy support to stabilize financial markets.

Middle East oil-producing nations are also offering larger discounts to refineries in India and China after the producers face difficulties in shipping through the troubled waters of the Red Sea.

Diesel exporters from India are forced to divert shipments away from Red Sea Lanes to routes along South Africa after growing attacks by the Yemen-based Houthi group on cargo ships in the Red Sea.

Freight costs have risen more than twofold and added two weeks to the shipping time to Europe from India, making imports from the U.S. more competitive. 

 

China Stocks Slide After Manufacturing Sector Extend Weakness

Stocks in China slipped after manufacturing sector remained in contraction and service sector showed an anemic growth.  

China Manufacturing PMI edged slightly higher to 49.2 in January from 49.0 in December, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Wednesday.

Factory activities shrank for the fourth month in a row, and  new orders, exports, and  employment declined in the month. 

The data for January and February months could be volatile because of the Lunar Year celebration, which falls  this year on February 10.  

China Service PMI rose to 50.7 in January from 50.4 in December, reaching a four-month high and the sector  expanded for  the thirteenth month in a row.  

The CSI 300 index decreased 0.3% to 3,235.45 and the Hang Seng Index dropped 1.3% to 15,508.52.

The Hang Seng index dropped 7.6% in the month, the worst monthly decline since the fall of 9.6% in February.

Alibaba Group, Meituan, Baidu, Tencent,  and JD.com dropped between 2% and 2.5%.

Henderson Land Development, Sun Hung Kai, and New World Development fell between 3% and 5%.

 

Broad Rally Lifts India Indexes Ahead of Union Budget

Stocks in Mumbai advanced, and bond yields and the rupee held firm ahead of the release of the budget by the finance ministry.

The Sensex and the Nifty index gained more than 0.3% as investors added positions in banks, oil refiners and distributors, and infrastructure developers.

Sustained buying by foreign and domestic investors supported the rebound in stocks a day after indexes dropped more than 1%.

The Sensex index increased 258.61 points to 71,397.30, and the Nifty index rose 74.60 points to 21,596.70.

On the Mumbai stock exchange, 248 stocks traded at their 52-week highs and 14 stocks traded at their 52-week lows.

The yield on the 10-year Indian government bonds increased to 7.16%, and the Indian rupee held steady at ₹83.13 against the U.S. dollar.

Larsen & Toubro declined 1.9% to ₹3,639.85 after the infrastructure construction company estimated new order weakness in the next two quarters due to the Lok Sabha elections.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories declined 0.2% to ₹5,835.0 after the generic pharmaceuticals maker reported a rise in sales and earnings in its latest quarter.

Revenue in the December quarter increased 7% to ₹7,215 crore, and net income jumped 11% to ₹1,379 crore from a year ago, respectively.