Stocks Rebound, Google Eyes Worst Drop In A Year, Gold Shatters Fresh Records: What's Driving Markets Wednesday?

Wall Street rose on Wednesday, with all major equity indices advancing as investors assessed the latest batch of corporate earnings and drew optimism from positive labor market data.

The S&P 500 gained 0.3% to 6,045 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, now trading less than 1% below its all-time high.

Alphabet Inc. GOOGL missed quarterly earnings expectations on its cloud business, triggering a 7% drop, its worst single-day decline in a year. On the upside, Broadcom Inc. AVGO surged 6% after beating estimates, fueling a rally in chip stocks. Nvidia Corp. NVDA also gained 3.4%.

The Russell 2000 outperformed with a 0.9% gain, reflecting strength in smaller-cap stocks.

Fresh labor market data signaled resilience. Private sector employment rose by 183,000 in January according to the ADP report, surpassing expectations of 150,000. The services sector continued expanding, as per ISM survey, though at a slightly slower-than-anticipated pace.

Investors piled into Treasuries, sending yields tumbling across the curve. The 30-year yield fell to its lowest level since Dec. 18, 2024, while the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT rallied 1.9%.

Gold extended its bull run, surging over 1% to a record $2,870 per ounce, driven by continued central bank buying. Copper jumped 2%.

In crypto markets, Bitcoin BTC/USD edged down 1.2% to $97,000.

Wednesday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.3% to $602.97.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.5% to $447.60.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ inched 0.2% up to $525.63.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rallied 1% to $229.09.
• The Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund XLRE outperformed, up 1.6%; the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund XLC lagged, down 1.2%.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

Stocks reacting on earnings reports included:

• Amgen Inc. AMGN: up 5.9%
• Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. CMG: down 2.4%
• Mondelez International Inc. MDLZ: up 0.62%
• Simon Property Group Inc. SPG: 3.55%
• Electronic Arts Inc. EA: up 5.7%
• Snap Inc. SNAP: down 6.55%
• IDEX Corp. IEX: down 9.61%
• Walt Disney Co. DIS: down 1.77%
• Uber Technologies Inc. UBER: down 7.31%
• Fiserv Inc. FI: up 7.48%
• Boston Scientific Corp. BSX: up 1.87%
• Illinois Tool Works Inc. ITW: down 0.62%
• Emerson Electric Co. EMR: down 2.61%
• T. Rowe Price Group Inc. TROW: down 3.91%
• Cencora Inc. COR: up 0.83%
• CDW Corp. CDW: up 4.54%
• Ares Management Corp. ARES: down 2.51%
• Bunge Global SA BG: down 5.05%
• Johnson Controls International JCI: up 12.49%
• Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. ODFL: up 5.60%
• Stanley Black & Decker Inc. SWK: down 1.43%
• Ares Capital Corp. ARCC: down 3.26%
• Criteo SA CRTO: up 17.73%
• Timken Co. TKR: up 2.86%
• Performance Food Group Co. PFGC: down 1.91%
• New York Times Co. NYT: down 11.56%
• Griffon Corp. GFF: up 9.00%
• Harley-Davidson Inc. HOG: down 0.63%
• Capri Holdings Ltd. CPRI: down 13.94%
• Azenta Inc. AZTA: up 1.04%
• Vishay Intertechnology Inc. VSH: up 8.65%
• Spire Inc. SR: up 0.82%

Large-cap stocks slated to report earnings after the close are Ford Motor Co. F, McKesson Corp. MCK Qualcomm Inc. QCOM, Molina Healthcare Inc. MOH, O’Reilly Automotive Inc. ORLY, MetLife Inc. MET, Cognizant Technology Solutions CTSH, Corteva Inc. CTVA, Allstate Corp. ALL, Skyworks Solutions Inc. SWKS, Aflac Inc. AFL, Align Technology Inc. ALGN.

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