US STOCKS-Wall St mixed with focus on earnings, rate-cut expectations

Rambus

06/02/2024 19:44

* 
      Lilly sees 2024 profit above estimates
    

        * 
      Palantir shares soar on AI revenue boost
    

        * 
      DuPont surges on $1 bln stock buyback target, dividend
hike
    

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      Indexes: Dow up 0.12%, S&P down 0.06%, Nasdaq down 0.36%
    

  
 (Updates prices at 02:28 p.m. ET/ 1931 GMT)
    By Sinéad Carew and Johann M  Cherian
       Feb 6 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were mixed
in choppy trading on Tuesday, as investors scrutinized earnings
at big U.S. companies and digested comments from Federal Reserve
policy makers for clues about its first planned interest-rate
cut.
    Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari  said the central
bank is "not done yet" with inflation although it has come down
quickly with three-month and six-month inflation data
"basically" at the Fed's 2% goal. 
        Previously, Cleveland Fed President 
    Loretta Mester
     said that if the U.S. economy performs as she expects, this
could open the door to rate cuts. She was not ready yet to
suggest timing for easier policy.
  
        "The market's treading water, recalibrating when the Fed
is going to cut rates and how many rate cuts they're going to
make," said John Praveen, Managing Director & Co-CIO at Paleo
Leon. He also cited comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on
Sunday, which dashed hopes for a rate cut in March.  
  
        Praveen added the central bank may not want to wait too
long to cut rates as concerns about small regional Bank NY
Community Bancorp  NYCB.K  put a spotlight on weakness in the
commercial real estate industry, which is sensitive to rates. 
  
        U.S. Treasury Secretary 
    Janet Yellen
     said she was concerned about commercial real estate
stresses on banks and property owners, but believes the
situation is manageable with assistance from bank regulators.
  
        Praveen noted that Powell also referred to commercial
real estate on Sunday, and said his and Yellen's comments may
have added to investor jitters.
  
        "It's having a negative impact on the regional bank
sector," he said. The KBW Regional Banking index  .KRX  was down
1.5% as New York Community Bancorp  NYCB.N  plummeted 17%,
stretching a selloff since the lender's surprise quarterly loss
last week.
        At 2:28 p.m.
     (1928 GMT) 
    the Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  rose 38.21 points,
or 0.12%, to 38,418.33, the S&P 500  .SPX  lost 3.70 points, or
0.06 %, to 4,940.02 and the Nasdaq Composite  .IXIC  lost 55.40
points, or 0.36 %, to 15,542.28.     
  
        Airline stocks jumped after Frontier Group Holdings'
 ULCC.O  rose 20% following its surprise break-even earnings.
The airline sector's gains aided a roughly 2% advance in the Dow
Jones Transport Average  .DJT .
  
        With over half of S&P 500 companies now having reported
earnings, 81.2% surpassed expectations, according to LSEG data.
Overall S&P 500 earnings are expected to have risen 8.1% in the
fourth quarter from the year-ago quarter.
    GE HealthCare Technologies  GEHC.O  gained 12.4% after the
medtech firm posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter
earnings, driving the S&P 500 healthcare sector  .SPXHC  up by
around 1%, to an all-time high. 
    However, Eli Lilly  LLY.N  reversed earlier gains to fall
1%, even after forecasting 2024 profit above estimates.
        The materials index  .SPLRCM  gained 1.8%, as chemicals
firm DuPont de Nemours  DD.N  jumped 7% after beating
fourth-quarter profit estimates, announcing a new $1 billion
share-repurchase program and hiking its dividend. 
       Weighing on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, the Philadelphia SE
Semiconductor index  .SOX  down 1.8% with chip heavyweights
Advanced Micro Devices  AMD.O   down more than 4% and Nvidia
 NVDA.O  off more than 2%. Rambus Inc  RMBS.O  was down 19.5%
after its quarterly report.     
        Palantir Technologies  PLTR.N  jumped 29% after
forecasting upbeat annual profit.
        Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.2-to-1
ratio on the NYSE. There were 154 new highs and 57 new lows on
the NYSE.
  
        On the Nasdaq 2,560 issues advanced and 1,576 declined,
with advancing issues outnumbering decliners by a 1.6-to-1
ratio. The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and 8 new lows
while the Nasdaq recorded 95 new highs and 110 new lows.
  

 (Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Johann M Cherian and
Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and David
Gregorio)
 ((sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com; +13322191897;))