The Dow Jones Industrial Average came off session lows on Tuesday afternoon and was flat at the market close Tuesday.
The Nasdaq rose 0.1% at the opening bell but lost ground and traded 0.6% lower at closing bell. The S&P 500 also momentarily inched up but fell 0.16% for the day. The index has yet to reclaim the key 4,000 level that it lost on Monday.
The small-cap Russell 2000 bucked the larger trend and led with a 0.3% gain.
Volume on the NYSE and the Nasdaq was significantly higher compared with the same time on Monday.
December is the month with the most percentage wins for the Dow, Russell, and S&P 500, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Russell 2000 has ended December higher 83% of the time. Its average monthly return of 2.8% in December is the best for any month.
Analysts at Bank of America project a 5% return for the S&P 500 long term, pushing the S&P 500 to 6,000 by 2,032. Deutsche Bank sees an end-of-year recovery in 2023 for the stock market, while Morgan Stanley expects a buying opportunity in the first quarter.
Crude oil jumped over 1% on hopes that China's Covid lockdown will ease soon. On Tuesday, Chinese health officials said they would speed up vaccinations for elderly people. The OPEC+ meeting is on Dec. 4 where a production cut may also support oil prices. G-7 countries are on tap to place a cap on Russian oil on Dec. 5. Oil was trading at $78.42 a barrel Tuesday afternoon.
Home prices fell for the third straight month by 1% in September, based on the Case Shiller report.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 5 basis points to 3.75%.
Stocks Moving Today
Dow Jones component UnitedHealth warned of lower profits in 2023 and earnings of $24.40 to $24.90 per share. Its revenue target is also lower than it expected earlier, now at $357 billion to $360 billion. Shares have fallen nearly 1% today and are testing support at the 50-day line.
Shares of Roku were down as much as 4% after analyst Justin Patterson at KeyBanc downgraded the stock to sector weight. But the stock pared losses in late trading to close down fractionally. Shares rose in early after-hours trading.
Credit Suisse analyst Nicholas Campanella downgraded Evergy to underperform from outperform and lowered his price target to 57 from 61. Shares have fallen over 1% as they extend a downtrend.
Deutsche Bank analyst Amit Mehrotra upgraded UPS to buy from hold with a new price target of 220. The stock is up over 2%.
Automakers with a big footprint in China are on watch. China's Covid lockdown will likely drag on those stocks. Goldman Sachs' report on Monday identified Tesla, which has 27% of sales and 52% production in China, as one watch. Tesla has 224 showrooms and 99 service centers in China. Tesla fell over 1% in the stock market today and the stock is well below the 50-day line.
On Monday, news of a production shortfall of 6 million iPhones at a manufacturing plant in China sent Dow Jones stock Apple tumbling nearly 3%. Shares ticked lower by over 2% today.
Earnings Deck Outside Dow Jones
Workday and CrowdStrike reported earnings on Tuesday. Workday topped both top and bottom-line views with revenue of $1.6 billion and earnings of 99 cents per share. Shares surged 16% on Wednesday.
CrowdStrike saw revenue of $581 million and earnings of 40 cents per share. However, the software security provider missed on annual recurring revenue. Shares fell 20% on Wednesday and are on pace for their lowest close of 111.24 since Aug. 24, 2020.
Shares of Bilibili surged over 20% in strong volume after earnings beat expectations. Revenue rose 11% to $808.8 million with a loss of 62 cents a share. Analysts expected a loss of 65 cents and revenue of $801 million.
Follow VRamakrishnan @IBD_VRamakrishnan for more news on the stock market today.
