Stocks On Wall Street Lacked Direction After the Consumer Sentiment Dropped to a 6-month Low

Barry Adams
10 May, 2024
New York City

Stocks wavered in early trading on Wall Street after investors digested the latest update on consumer sentiment. 

The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite struggled to stay above the flatline after the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment declined to 67.4 from 77.2 in April. 

Consumer sentiment fell to a six-month low, and inflation expectation for the year-ahead reached 3.5% from 3.2% in the previous month, according to the preliminary estimate. 

Consumers are worried that unemployment, inflation, and interest rates are moving in an unfavorable direction in the next 12 months. 

The latest consumer sentiment report dented rate-cut expectations in the summer, as policymakers may keep interest rates higher for longer to drive inflation towards the 2% target rate. 

For the week, the S&P 500 index rose 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.4%. 

 

U.S. Indexes and Treasury Yields

The S&P 500 index increased 0.1% to 5,220.39, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1% to 16,331.89. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged lower to 4.86%, 10-year Treasury notes inched lower to 4.51%, and 30-year Treasury bonds edged lower to 4.64%.

WTI crude oil increased $0.19 to $79.45 a barrel, and natural gas prices decreased 1 cent to $2.28 a thermal unit.

Gold increased by $17.68 to $2,364.96 an ounce, and silver fell 11 cents to $28.22. 

The dollar index, which weighs the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, edged lower to 105.35.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

Sweetgreen soared 39% to $32.95 after the salad chain reported higher-than-expected revenue in the first quarter. 

Revenue in the first quarter increased by 26% to $157.9 million from $125.1 million, driven by the same store sales increase of 5% from a year ago. 

Net loss in the quarter decreased to $26.1 million from $33.6 million, and diluted loss per share fell to 23 cents from 30 cents a year ago. 

Akamai Technologies decreased 9.1% to $94.06 after the internet infrastructure company estimated weaker-than-expected second quarter earnings. 

Revenue in the first quarter increased 8% to $987 million from $915.7 million, net income rose to $175.4 million from $97.1 million, and diluted earnings per share advanced to $1.11 from 62 cents a year ago. 

The company estimated a second-quarter revenue range between $967 million and $986 million and full-year revenue between $3.95 billion and $4.02 billion.

Array Technologies rose 2.9% to $12.88 after the company reported better-than-expected adjusted earnings. 

Revenue in the first quarter decreased to $153.4 million from $376.8 million, net income swung to a loss of $11.3 million from $17.2 million, and diluted earnings per share were a loss of 7 cents compared to a profit of 11 cents a year ago. 

The company reaffirmed its annual revenue range of $1.25 billion to $1.4 billion and adjusted earnings per share to range between $1.0 and $1.15 billion. 

Novavax soared 124% to $10.02 after the company announced a multi-billion-dollar deal with Sanofi to co-commercialize its COVID vaccine starting as early as 2025. 

Sanofi agreed to pay Novavax an upfront licensing fee of $500 million and an additional fee of $700 million based on reaching certain milestones.