US stocks pop up as S&P heads towards 5000

On Wednesday, US equities rose sharply as investors processed new quarterly profit data, while the ongoing discussion about whether to drop interest rates continued to rumble beneath the surface.

The S&P 500 increased by more than 0.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.4%. There was over a 0.8% gain in the Nasdaq Composite. Now that over two-thirds of S&P 500 companies have submitted their quarterly reports, the market evaluated performance this earnings season. Overall, the results have exceeded Wall Street forecasts; but, several vulnerabilities have surfaced.

Alibaba

In Wednesday’s morning trade, Alibaba shares retreated more than 5% after the Chinese online retailer posted a revenue miss but said it will boost share buybacks by $25 billion. Shares of Snap tumbled more than 34% after the social media company’s profit forecast for the current quarter came in worse than expected.

Disney

Disney, which said Tuesday its ESPN unit will team up with Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox to launch a new sports streaming service, is coming up on the earnings docket.

Rate Cut Speculations

On Wednesday, Fed officials continued to tout that interest rates aren’t likely to come down in March. Boston Fed President Susan Collins said that rate cuts could come “later this year,” but first the central bank needs to see more evidence of inflation cooling.

Growing troubles at New York Community Bancorp have stoked worries about regional banks and the health of the real estate sector. Moody’s has downgraded the lender’s credit rating to junk, and several brokerages have cut their price target amid warnings about governance risk. NYCB shares fell over 10%, building on a slide of more than 22% on Tuesday.

Enphase Energy, the solar stock, soared 10% after the company posted a loss of 52 cents per share, less than the 55 cent per share loss expected from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue, or bookings, also beat expectations, coming in at $1.13 billion versus the $1.08 billion expected.

Yum Brands, the restaurant stock, added 3% despite Yum Brands’ adjusted earnings and revenue miss for the fourth quarter. XPO, the shipping company, beat expectations for the fourth quarter. Amgen, the drug-store chain, lost 4.4% following a downgrade by Leerink Partners to market perform from outperform. CVS Health, the media stock, lost 8% after reporting a revenue miss for the fourth quarter, while Chipotle Mexican Grill added 8% a day after the fast-casual restaurant chain reported stronger-than-expected adjusted earnings and revenue.

Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and Walt Disney announced they will launch a sports streaming platform, owned by a new company in which all three of the entertainment giants will each have a one-third stake. Warner Bros. Discovery shares slid 4%, Walt Disney shares were down less than 1%, while Fox dropped 6%.

Paramount Global, the media company, which includes streaming service Paramount+, fell 8% a day after the Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and Disney sports streaming deal was announced. Cirrus Logic, the semiconductor company, jumped 16% after its latest quarterly results exceeded analysts’ expectations.