The Dow led US stocks lower on Wednesday, as doubts about rate cuts weighed on investors dealing with a busy day of earnings highlighted by Boeing (BA) and Tesla (TSLA).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell more than 250 points, or 0.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slid about 0.5%, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) was off more than 0.3%.
The rally in stocks has stalled as investors debate how quickly the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates over the next year. Gloom about the prospect of rates staying higher for longer has dragged on bond prices in recent days, sending the 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) to levels not seen since July. The yield rose slightly on Wednesday, firmly above the 4.20% level.
Meanwhile, the focus is on Boeing and Tesla’s results as both struggle with headwinds. The plane maker posted a big loss in its quarterly report before the bell on the same day it will find out whether striking factory workers have voted to accept a pay deal.
Elsewhere on the corporate front, McDonald’s (MCD) stock sank over 6%, weighing on the Dow, after the company’s Quarter Pounder burgers were officially linked to an E. coli outbreak in some states.
Tesla’s earnings, due after the market close, will be closely watched amid questions about the EV maker’s long-awaited cheaper EV, robotaxi specifics, and its AI shift.
More broadly, Wall Street is looking to divine whether Big Tech megacaps will keep fueling the stock rally — and what the AI arms race means for their performance.
Investors are on the alert for surprises after Starbucks’s (SBUX) shock sales drop and withdrawal of guidance. Shares in the coffee chain were down around 1%, coming back from a deeper drop in extended trading.
