Stock Market Today: Stocks rebound as markets eye looming inflation test

TheStreet· Spencer Platt/Getty
Martin Baccardax
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Updated at 4:30 PM EDT by Rob Lenihan

Stocks finished higher Wednesday, with the S&P 500 hitting a fresh record close, as investors snapped a three-day losing streak.

The S&P 500 closed up 0.8% to a record 5,248.50, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.2% to 39,760.08 and the Nasdaq advanced 0.51% to 16,399.52.

The S&P 500 has set a new record closing high more than 20 times this year.

“The S&P 500 remains in a strong uptrend, supported by broad participation and cyclical leadership,” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL. “While stocks are extended to the upside, this backdrop suggests pullbacks should be used as buying opportunities.”

Turnquist noted that improving relative strength in industrials, financials, and materials "provides additional evidence of a bullish rotation that has largely been overshadowed by mega caps and AI enthusiasm."

The Bureau of Economic Analysis will publish its key reading of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge on Friday.

Markets often key on the bureau's core PCE price index, which the Fed considers a more accurate representation of consumer-price pressures since it blends changes in spending patterns.

Economists are looking for the core PCE index to hold at 2.8% while the headline reading quickens modestly to 2.5%.

Updated at 1:11 PM EDT

Last auction

The Treasury wrapped-up the third of three coupon bond auctions this week, raising around $176 billion, with the $43 billion sale of new 7-year notes that drew solid demand from both foreign and domestic investors.

The Treasury drew bids worth around $122.2 billion, and allocated around 69.7% to so-called 'indirect' bidders, which are a typical proxy for foreign central bank purchases.

Both the bid-to-cover demand ratio and the foreign investor interest were modestly firmer when compared to a similar auction last month.

Updated at 11:59 AM EDT

Apple appealing?

Apple AAPL shares got a rare boost Wednesday, rising 1.6% in early trading, after analysts at JPMorgan reiterated their 'overweight' rating on the stock despite the ongoing slide in China iPhone sales.

Apple is down around 7.2% so far this year, putting the world's second-largest company on pace to be the second-worst Magnificent 7 stock performer behind Tesla.

Updated at 11:21 AM EDT

Magic Kingdom control

Disney (DIS) shares moved higher in early trading after it reached an agreement with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over control of the media and entertainment group's sprawling Orlando theme parks.

The deal ends a series of lawsuits between Disney and the state of Florida, and opens up discussions with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District over the ultimate management of the Walt Disney World Resort area.

Updated at 10:07 AM EDT

Solid gains

The S&P 500 is off to a solid start, rising 24 points, or 0.46%, in the opening half hour of trading, with the Dow jumping 320 points.

The Nasdaq is lagging modestly, rising just 0.13% amid another pullback in Tesla (TSLA) and a 1.4% decline for Meta Platforms (META) .

Updated at 9:09 AM EDT

The Game stopped

GameStop (GME) shares, patient-zero in the 2021 meme stock craze, were marked 18% lower in pre-market trading after the video game retailer posted disappointing holiday quarter profits and slumping sales.

"Despite a quarter that featured an extra week and modestly positive industry trends, GameStop delivered a large sales decline as it continues to deal with a mix shift in software sales, declining hardware sales, fewer large console releases, and the growth of subscription services," said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter.

Stock Market Today

Stocks ended modestly lower Tuesday, extending Wall Street's losing streak to three sessions, as a stronger-than-expected reading for February durable-goods orders and a steady reading for consumer confidence nudged Treasury yields higher and thin trading volumes kept investors from extending risk.

Tuesday's trading volume of around 10.2 billion shares was around 15% below the 20-day average, Broader market-volatility readings held near multimonth lows with the VIX index pegged at around $12.95.

However, a second solid auction from the Treasury this week, a $67 billion sale of new 5-year notes, kept yields from advancing into the close of the session. That's even as traders largely held onto their view that the Federal Reserve will implement the first of three 2024 interest-rate cuts in June.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields were little changed at 4.228% in early Wednesday trading, ahead of a $43 billion 7-year auction later in the session, while 2-year notes were pegged at 4.587%.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 0.03% lower at 104.267.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis will publish its key reading of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge on Friday, despite markets being closed for the Good Friday observance.

Markets often key on the bureau's core PCE price index, which the Fed considers a more accurate representation of consumer-price pressures since it blends changes in spending patterns.

Economists are looking for the core PCE index to hold at 2.8% while the headline reading quickens modestly to 2.5%.

Global oil prices moved lower in overnight trading, following on from a second day of declines Tuesday, after data from the American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. domestic crude stockpiles rose by a larger-than-expected 9.3 million barrels last week.

The Energy Department is set to publish official data on crude inventories and overall exports at 10:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time.

Brent crude futures contracts for May delivery, the global pricing benchmark, were trading 60 cents lower at $85.63 a barrel. WTI futures for the same month, which are tightly linked to domestic gasoline prices, fell 54 cents to $81.08 per barrel.

Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which is up 9.09% for the year, are indicating a 23-point opening-bell gain.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, suggest a 185-point advance while those linked to the Nasdaq are priced for a 96-point rise.

In overseas markets, Europe's regionwide Stoxx 600 was marked 0.01% lower on the session in early Frankfurt trading while Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.28% in London.

Overnight in Asia, officials in Japan made the most significant signal to date that they're ready to intervene in the currency market, after the yen fell to a fresh 34-year low of 151.8 against the U.S. dollar. That extended a one-year decline of around 14%.

The Nikkei 225 was marked 0.9% higher on the session at 40,726.73 points while the MSCI ex-Japan benchmark fell 0.33% into the close of trading.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

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