Stocks Trim Gains On Slower Jobs Growth, Dollar Falls Ahead Of Fed Minutes; Target Rallies, Macy's Tumbles: What's Driving Markets Wednesday?

Wall Street trimmed early session gains on Wednesday after official government data downwardly revised nonfarm payrolls by 818,000 from previous estimates between April 2023 and March 2024. This adjustment suggests that the labor market’s strength was not as robust as investors had initially believed.

By midday trading in New York, major U.S. indices hovered slightly above the flatline, with both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 adding mild gains after snapping an eight-day winning streak on Tuesday. Blue-chip stocks were flat, while small-cap stocks managed to rise by 0.6%.

Traders are now eagerly awaiting further insights on monetary policy from the minutes of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s July meeting, scheduled for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Meanwhile, speculators have increased their expectations of a 50-basis-point rate cut in September, assigning a 32.5% probability to this scenario in response to the downward revisions of the annual nonfarm payrolls. Market participants are fully pricing in 100 basis points, equivalent to a full percentage point, in cuts by the end of the year.

The U.S. dollar is experiencing its fourth consecutive session of losses, while Treasury yields are dropping on the shorter end of the curve, with the policy-sensitive 2-year note seeing yields tumble by 6 basis points to 3.92%.

Gold is down slightly, off by 0.3%, while oil prices are down 1.2%, with West Texas Intermediate crude projected to close at its lowest levels since early February 2024.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) gained 1% but remains below the $60,000 mark.

Wednesday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 0.2% higher to $559.67.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) stalled at $408.62.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) edged 0.2% higher to $481.13.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rose 0.6% to $214.01.
• The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) and The Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLB) outperformed, both up by 0.9%. The Financials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLF) lagged, down by 0.4%.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

• Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) rallied over 12% on stronger-than-expected quarterly results. The retail giant also witnessed several analysts raising their price target on the stock.
• Macy’s Inc. (NYSE:M) plummeted 13% after reducing revenue guidance for the fiscal year.
• Other major companies reacting to earnings were TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE:TJX) up 6.2%, Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI), Dycom Industries Inc. (NYSE:DY), down 8.5%, Keysight Technologies Inc. (NYSE:KEYS), up 12%, Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE:TOL), up 5.9% and Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY), up 6.1%.
• Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) rose 1.4% after announcing to halt production of an all-electric three-row SUV.

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