Even so, Carey said it remains difficult to know how to position a portfolio, given uncertainties around how far Putin intends to take his attack on Ukraine. “I think there will be continued volatility like the swings we are seeing in the market, one day to the next.”
President Joe Biden delivered an optimistic State of the Union speech on Tuesday evening, saying that America is “stronger today than we were a year ago,” even as war rages on in Eastern Europe and concerns about inflation linger domestically.
In economic reports, the Fed’s Beige Book survey of economic activity showed modest expansion in the final weeks of last year on continued supply-chain disruptions and labor shortages, but also a pullback in leisure travel due to the omicron variant.
The private sector added 475,000 new jobs in February, payroll processor ADP said — after omicron faded, governments eased pandemic restrictions and the economy perked up. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 400,000 increase.
Which companies were in focus?
• CVS Health Corp. , Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Walmart Inc shares were in focus Wednesday after they said stores will participate in Biden’s test-to-treat COVID-19 program, at no costs. Shares rose 2.3%, 2.5% and 0.1%, respectively.
• Shares of Nordstrom rose Wednesday after the retailer said it earned $1.23 a share on revenue that rose more than 23% to $4.38 billion. Analysts were looking for earnings per share of $1 on revenue of $4.36 billion. Its stock gained almost 38%. Ford Motor Co.’s stock was in focus after it reported U.S. auto sales of 129,273 vehicles, down 20.9% from a year ago. It also said it would split its electric-vehicle unit from its legacy automobile manufacturing, a historic reorganization of the 118-year-old company. Shares advanced 8.4%.
• Shares of electric-vehicle maker Rivian Automotive fell 13.5% after it said it was raising prices to help the startup offset higher costs of production.
• Apple ended 2.1% higher after announcing a product launch for March 8, when it is expected to promote a low-cost version of its popular iPhone with 5G.
• Shares of banking giant Citigroup gained 1.7% as its CEO Jane Fraser outlined a three-phase plan to streamline operations and improve returns. The plan comes one year after Fraser became chief executive of the global institution. Profitability will fall as the bank pursues a strategy shift that will raise expenses in the near term.
• Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson fell more than 9% as it juggles an unpopular acquisition and the fallout from a 2019 investigation which found compliance breaches in the company’s operations in Iraq.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 13.1 billion shares, compared with a 12.4 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Sell-side analysts in the U.S. are getting more nervous about earnings forecasts, with profit revisions turning most negative since May 2020. Downgrades are now outweighing upgrades as the war in Ukraine, rising oil prices and policy tightening may weigh on economic growth.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP ended 0.1% lower, while the Hang Seng Index HSI closed down 1.8% in Hong Kong and Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK declined 1.7%.
What to watch this week:
# ECB publishes the account of its February meeting, Thursday
# Eurozone Markit services PMI, PPI, unemployment, Thursday
# U.S. factory orders, initial jobless claims, U.S. durable goods, Thursday
# U.S. unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday
Currencies
# The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
# The euro was little changed at $1.1123
# The British pound rose 0.6% to $1.3403
# The Japanese yen fell 0.5% to 115.54 per dollar
Bonds
# The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 17 basis points to 1.90%
# Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 10 basis points to 0.03%
# Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 13 basis points to 1.26%
Commodities
# West Texas Intermediate crude rose 7.5% to $111.20 a barrel
# Gold futures fell 0.8% to $1,929 an ounce
By: via @AlliesFin Serve Stock Market
