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Stock Market News for Nov 17, 2022

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Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday in a choppy session. Declining retail and semiconductor stocks weighed down on the market. Positive comments from a Fed official with a hawkish reputation indicated the central bank might be considering going slow on policy tightening. All three major indexes ended in negative territory.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 0.1% or 39.09 points to end at 33,553.83 points. Sixteen components of the 30-stock index ended in the negative territory, while 14 ended in the positive.

The S&P 500 lost 0.8% or 32.94 points to close at 3,958.79 points. Nine of the 11 broad sectors of the benchmark index ended in negative territory. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE), the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) decreased 2%, 1.5% and 1.4%, respectively, while the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) gained 0.9%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 1.5% or 174.75 points to finish at 11,183.66 points.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 1.8% to 24.11. A total of 10.5 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 12.2 billion. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.96-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.23-to-1 ratio favored the decliners.

Target Corporation’s Sales Outlook Dampens Mood

Target Corporation (TGT - Free Report) forecast a gloomy holiday-quarter sales outlook on Wednesday, citing rising inflation and a decrease in consumer spending as the main reasons. Without disclosing specific details, the company said it would launch a cost-cut plan to save $2 billion to $3 billion over the next three years.

According to CEO Brian Cornell, an early start to holiday season promotions and consumers waiting for steeper discounts cut the big-box retailer’s third-quarter profit by half. "Clearly it's an environment where consumers have been stressed," Cornell said. The general feeling was that consumers were giving up discretionary purchases to focus on essentials.

Target expects fourth-quarter sales to fall in the range of a low single-digit percentage and its operating margin to about 3%. It cited big holiday discounts and rising theft and organized crime across retail stores’ as the key reasons for its outlook. The company announced third-quarter earnings per share of $1.54, widely missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.15. Its shares got plummeted by 13.1% as a result. It also had a wider bearing on the retail and consumer discretionaries sector as stocks declined on the news.

Another major dampener for the day came in from semiconductor major Micron Technology, Inc. (MU - Free Report) , which said it would reduce memory chip supply and make more cuts to its capital spending plan, as it struggles with excess inventory due to a slump in demand. Micron’s shares fell 6.7% with this announcement. On the news, The S&P 500 Technology Select Sector fell 1.4% and the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index sank 4.3%.

Consequently, shares of Macy's, Inc. (M - Free Report) and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN - Free Report) slid 8.1% and 2.3%, respectively. Macy’s carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Hawkish Fed Official Does An U-turn

Fed Governor Christopher Waller, a reputed “hawk", said on Wednesday that he is now "more comfortable" with smaller rate increases going forward. This dovish turn is in contrast to recent statements coming from Waller and reinforces the market belief that the Fed is currently on the verge of slowing down its rate of interest rate hikes. Waller, however, said he will not make a final decision about what to do at the Fed’s December policy meeting until the rest of the data between now and then is reviewed, and is still unsure of whether inflation has peaked. Nonetheless, this comes as a good sign for market participants.

Economic Data

As reported by the Federal Reserve, Capacity Utilization for October decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 79.9. The September reading was revised down to 80.1.

Industrial Production for October decreased by 0.1%, while the gain in September was revised down by 0.1%.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that Retail Sales for October had advanced by 1.3% against a consensus of 1.1%. In September, it had remained unchanged.

Business Inventories for September were up 0.4%, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences. The August advance was revised to 0.9%.

For the week ending Nov 11, 2022, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) decreased by 5.4 million barrels from the previous week.

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