Mid-day: US shares drop early Wednesday amid retail earnings
By Joseph Toppe
17:38, 17 November 2021
The major US indices are down in early trading Wednesday as investors digest a string of earnings reports from big-box retailers.
By intraday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by 195 points, or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both 0.1% lower.
A 5% dip in Visa stock helped pull the Dow lower on Wednesday.
Yesterday, the Dow added 54.77 points, or 0.15%, the S&P 500 improved 0.39%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.76%.
Winners and losers: Blue-chip Boeing wins for Dow
Shares of Boeing nosed up almost 2% after the company received an Akasa Air order for its 737 MAX worth $9bn (£6.67bn). The Seattle-based company’s stock has been slow in 2021, up just 6.5%.
Shares of Target are down 5.12% despite the company taking on more staff as the US retailer reported third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations. For the third-quarter ending on 30 October, net income rose 47% to $1.49bn from $1.01bn a year earlier, according to a press release.
By 12 noon EDT (UTC -5), shares of Lowe’s were up 1.01% after the home improvement retailer showed both profit and revenue from the third quarter exceeding expectations. The store also reported an increase in same-store sales and raised its full-year outlook.
Shares of Tesla are up 3.65%, after reversing 15.4% during last week’s trading. The drop in the EV-maker’s stock followed CEO Elon Musk selling more than $10bn in stock options.
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Oil today: Prices sink ahead of industry report
Oil prices are lower in early trading as investors eye the release of inventory data from the Energy Information Administration later today.
US crude supplies went up 655,000 barrels for the week ending on 12 November, while West Texas Intermediate crude sank 0.9% to $80.08 a barrel.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped 1% to $81.54 a barrel.
Gold today: Metal breaks two-day losing skid
Gold futures are up on Wednesday following a drop in each of the last two trading sessions.
On Wednesday, December gold jumped $13.90, or 0.8% to trade at $1,868 an ounce.
In other metals, silver for December delivery on Comex spiked 27.6 cents, or 1.1% to $25.22 an ounce.
December copper was off 1.4% at $4.289 a pound, while January platinum lost 0.3% to $1,071.50 an ounce and December palladium went up 0.1% to $2,169 an ounce.
Forex today: US Dollar, Euro lose value
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was flat at around 1.64%, while the ICE US Dollar Index, a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, was steady.
The Canadian dollar/US dollar currency pair saw a small, sharp movement on Wednesday's data release. As of 9:17 am EST (UTC -5), the Canadian dollar – nicknamed “the loonie” – shed 0.21% at $0.795
In early trading, the US dollar is down 0.2% at 114.61, while the Euro is down less than 0.1% at $1.1319
Read more: Canadian annual inflation up 4.7% in October
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