The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 23,504.35 on Wednesday with a loss of 445.41 points or -1.86%. The S&P 500 closed at 2,783.36 for a loss of 62.70 points or -2.20%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 8,393.18 for a loss of 122.56 points or -1.44%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 40.81 for a gain of 3.05 points or 8.08%.
Wednesday’s market movers
U.S. indexes closed lower Wednesday, unable to continue Tuesday’s rally. Coronavirus cases increased to over 600,000. The Trump administration continued to discuss plans for reopening, suggesting the least infected states could potentially reopen before May 1.
Retail sales showed some of the major affects of the economic shutdown. Overall, retail sales were down 8.7% in March. The Fed’s Beige Book also showed a sharp contraction across federal districts.
Earnings topped headlines with the following releases:
- Bank of America (BAC, Financial): Revenue of $22.77 billion decreased 1.0% year over year but beat estimates by $190 million. First-quarter GAAP earnings of 40 cents per share missed estimates by 14 cents.
- Goldman Sachs (GS): Revenue of $8.74 billion decreased 0.8% year over year and beat estimates by $820 million. First-quarter GAAP earnings of $3.11 missed estimates by 18 cents.
- Citigroup (C): Revenue of $20.73 billion increased 11.6% year over year and beat estimates by $1.75 billion. First-quarter GAAP earnings of $1.05 per share missed estimates by 31 cents.
- UnitedHealth (UNH, Financial): Revenue of $64.42 billion increased 6.8% year over year and beat estimates by $170 million. First-quarter GAAP earnings of $3.52 per share beat estimates by 6 cents and non-GAAP earnings of $3.72 beat estimates by 5 cents.
Economic and political reports affecting market trading included the following:
- The government announced an agreement with U.S. airlines for federal aid.
- The U.S. said it would halt funding to the World Health Organization while it investigated mismanagement of the agency’s coronavirus responses.
- The MBA Mortgage Applications Index increased 7.3% following a decrease of 17.9%. The MBA’s average 30-year mortgage rate decreased to 3.45% from 3.49%.
- The New York Empire State Manufacturing Index fell to -78.2 in April from -21.5.
- Retail sales decreased 8.7% in March, worse than the estimate of a 6.5% decrease. Retail sales excluding autos were down 4.5% in March, worse than the estimated 3.0% decrease. Year over year, retail sales were down 6.2%.
- The Federal Reserve released its Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization report. Industrial production was down 5.4% in March. Year over year, industrial production was down 5.5%. Manufacturing production decreased 6.3% in March. Year over year, manufacturing production was down 6.6%. Capacity utilization fell to 72.7% from 77%.
- Business inventories decreased 0.4% in February.
- The NAHB Housing Market Index fell to 30 in April from 72.
- Crude oil inventory increased by 19.248 million barrels.
- The Treasury held auctions for 103-Day Bills at a rate of 0.165% and 154-Day Bills at a rate of 0.190%. The 10-year Treasury yield closed at 0.633%.
- The Treasury International Capital report showed net capital flows of -$13.4 billion in February, foreign bond investment of $4.9 billion and net long-term Treasury international capital flows of $49.4 billion.
In the S&P 500, energy and materials led losses. In the S&P 100, the following stocks led losses and gains:
- Simon Property Group (SPG, Financial) -9.33%
- Occidental Petroleum (OXY, Financial) -8.15%
- Halliburton (HAL, Financial) -8.13%
- DuPont (DD, Financial) -7.12%
- General Electric (GE, Financial) -7.07%
- U.S. Bancorp (USB, Financial) -6.68%
- American International Group (AIG, Financial) -6.46%
- Bank of America (BAC, Financial) -6.45%
- Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA, Financial) -6.40%
- Wells Fargo (WFC, Financial) -5.77%
- UnitedHealth (UNH, Financial) +4.17%
- Boeing (BA, Financial) +3.36%
- Netflix (NFLX, Financial) +3.27%
- Abbott Laboratories (ABT) +2.55%
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,183.81 for a loss of 53.53 points or -4.33%. The S&P 600 closed at 695.73 for a loss of 35.37 points or -4.84%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 8,012.69 for a loss of 310.45 points or -3.73%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 5,943.70 for a loss of 340.23 points or -5.41%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,508.80 for a loss of 61.72 points or -3.93%; the S&P 100 at 1,283.68 for a loss of 23.41 points or -1.79%; the Nasdaq 100 at 8,591.96 for a loss of 100.20 points or -1.15%; the Russell 3000 at 1,599.48 for a loss of 38.35 points or -2.34%; the Russell 1000 at 1,525.10 for a loss of 34.69 points or -2.22%; the Wilshire 5000 at 27,978.84 for a loss of 647.25 points or -2.26%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 554.95 for a loss of 23.88 points or 4.13%.
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