The Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a 0.2% gain at noon Wednesday while tech-heavy indexes fell. HCA Healthcare broke out.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4% at 12 p.m. ET. The Nasdaq sold off aggressively, dropping 1.3% after big names got pounded. Software and chip stocks led the downside. The small-cap Russell 2000 index fell 1.3%.
NYSE volume fell as cautious investors shifted to defensive instruments. Nasdaq volume rose vs. the same time on Tuesday, underpinned by Big Tech selling pressure.
Crude oil broke its recent uptrend, falling to $80.40 per barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 4 basis points to 3.29%.
Dow Jones leader Johnson & Johnson rose after proposing to pay around $8.9 billion to settle claims that its talcum powder causes cancer, dwarfing its original offer of $2 billion.
FedEx and Newmont rose while MarketAxess dived.
AstraZeneca gained in the Nasdaq, along with utility names American Electric Power and Xcel Energy.
Price War Brewing
An oversupply of cars will likely extend the price wars that EVs have been waging against traditional combustion engine makers. According to UBS analysts, global car production will be higher than demand by 6% this year.
Tesla fell at noon, as did General Motors and Ford. GM sliced through its 50-day line while Tesla and Ford tested key levels.
Morgan Stanley sees commercial building refinancing as the next big banking hurdle, amid rising interest rates and stricter lending rules. Commercial real estate prices are likely to fall as much as 40%, according to analysts.
Services expanded for the third straight month in March. The Institute for Supply Management Service index came in at 51.2%; that was lower than February's 55.1%.
Dow Jones Stock On Watch
Apple is in a consolidation with an alternate entry of 176.25. On Monday, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives upgraded the price target for the iPhone maker to 205.
Shares of Google parent Alphabet slid after the cloud giant claimed its supercomputer-trained artificial-intelligence models were better than A100 chip models from Nvidia.
According to a scientific paper released Tuesday, Google claimed its fourth-generation Tensor processing unit used for artificial-intelligence training is faster and uses less energy than Nvidia's A100 chip. Nvidia has a more advanced H100 chip. GOOGL shares are poised to break out of a cup with handle with a buy point of 106.69.
Dow Rises But Leaders Tumble, Tesla Trips Sell Rule; What To Do Now
Stocks Moving Today
Transportation giant FedEx rose after it announced a cost-cutting initiative and raised its dividend 10%. Shares broke out of a flat base with a buy point of 217.48 in strong volume earlier and are extended.
The price of gold held above $2,000 as fears of recession renewed after cooler economic data. The ADP jobs report showed the economy added 145,000 jobs in March after February's revised 261,000. Friday's nonfarm payroll report with offer a more comprehensive reading of the labor market.
Outside the Dow Jones, Royal Gold on the IBD Leaderboard is in a buy zone above a 131.99 entry.
HCA Healthcare is breaking out of a cup with handle from a 269.19 entry. The company operates 182 hospitals and over 2,000 ambulatory care centers. Sales and earnings have tapered off for the stock, according to MarketSmith analysis. However, the relative strength line is at a 52-week high. First-quarter earnings are due April 21.
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