US markets end lower on Wednesday

31 Oct 2024 Evaluate

US markets ended lower on Wednesday as investors reacted to a mixed batch of corporate earnings and U.S. economic news. A report released by the Commerce Department showed U.S. economic growth unexpectedly slowed in the third quarter. The Commerce Department said gross domestic product shot up by 2.8 percent in the third quarter after surging by 3.0 percent in the second quarter. Street had expected another 3.0 percent jump. The unexpected slowdown in the pace of GDP growth primarily reflected a downturn in private inventory investment and a larger decrease in residential fixed investment. However, payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector employment in the U.S. shot up by much more than anticipated in the month of October. ADP said private sector employment surged by 233,000 jobs in October after jumping by an upwardly revised 159,000 jobs in September. 

Street had expected private sector employment to climb by 115,000 jobs compared to the addition of 143,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. 0n the sectoral front, Semiconductor stocks pulled back sharply after rallying on Tuesday, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 3.4 percent. The steep drop by AMD weighed on the sector along with a nosedive by shares of Qorvo (QRVO), which plummeted by 27.3 percent after the company provided disappointing fiscal third quarter earnings guidance. Substantial weakness was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91.51 points or 0.22 percent to 42,141.54, Nasdaq dropped 104.82 points or 0.56 percent to 18,607.93 and S&P 500 was down by 19.25 points or 0.33 percent to 5,813.67. 


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