US STOCKS-Wall Street ends lower on weak Oracle forecast, jitters about high oil prices

WestRock Co

12/09/2023 21:00

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click  LIVE/  or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

        * 
      Oil prices spike on tight supplies, upbeat OPEC
    

        * 
      Oracle down after downbeat forecast, Q1 revenue miss
    

        * 
      WestRock jumps on Smurfit Kappa merger
    

  
 (Updated at 4:00 p.m. ET/ 2000 GMT)
    By Noel Randewich and Ankika Biswas
       Sept 12 (Reuters) - 
    Wall Street stocks ended lower on Tuesday as surging oil
prices deepened worries about persistent price pressures ahead
of crucial inflation readings this week, while Oracle slumped
after a downbeat forecast.   
    Oracle  ORCL.N  shares tumbled to their lowest since June
after the cloud-services provider forecast current-quarter
revenue below targets and narrowly missed first-quarter
expectations. 
    Cloud-computing heavyweights Amazon.com  AMZN.O  and
Microsoft  MSFT.O  also fell, pressured by Oracle's weak
forecast and by a rise in U.S. Treasury yields.      
    Oil prices jumped more than 1%, building on a recent rally
and stoking worries that sticky inflation could mean U.S.
interest rates stay higher longer in the aftermath of strong
economic data.
    "People are a little bit worried about energy prices picking
up pretty aggressively in recent weeks and that creates some
concerns as we look forward to November" when some investors
worry Federal Reserve policy makers may raise rates again, said
Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC.
    Investors are awaiting August consumer price index data due
on Wednesday and producer prices reading scheduled for Thursday
to gauge the outlook for U.S. interest rates ahead of the Fed's
meeting on Sept. 20. 
    Interest rate traders see a 93% chance of rates remaining at
the current levels in September but just a 56% likelihood of a
pause at the November meeting, according to the CME FedWatch
Tool.
    "All the all the inputs that we get between now and the
November meeting will be important, especially those related to
inflation. So that thrusts a lot of importance on tomorrow's CPI
report," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley
Wealth.
    Investors will also monitor the European Central Bank's
policy decision on Thursday, when it is seen holding rates after
nine consecutive hikes.
    Apple  AAPL.O  dropped after unveiling new iPhones, while
not increasing prices as it faces a global smartphone slump. The
stock was also hurt by a report that China's Huawei Technologies
has raised the second-half shipment target for its Mate 60
series smartphone by 20%. 
    According to preliminary data, the S&P 500  .SPX  lost 25.52
points, or 0.57%, to end at 4,461.94 points, while the Nasdaq
Composite  .IXIC  lost 144.28 points, or 1.04%, to 13,773.62.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  fell 14.37 points, or
0.04%, to 34,649.35.
    WestRock  WRK.N  jumped after agreeing to merge with
Europe's Smurfit Kappa  SKG.I  to create the world's largest
listed paper and packaging company, worth nearly $20 billion.
    Advance Auto Parts  AAP.N  dropped after S&P Global
downgraded the auto parts retailer's credit and debt ratings
from investment grade (BBB-) to junk (BB+).
    Zions Bancorp  ZION.O  jumped after the U.S. regional lender
posted a slight increase in its monthly net interest income
growth.

 (Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru,
and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, Calif.; Editing by Arun
Koyyur, Vinay Dwivedi and David Gregorio)
 ((noel.randewich@tr.com))