US: Stocks close mostly down on Wednesday on recession worries

WALL Street stocks finished mostly lower on Wednesday, shrugging off relatively solid corporate earnings amid recession worries, while First Republic Bank tanked again.

Most major earnings results over the past day have topped expectations, but the market’s “muted” response has been “a drag on investor sentiment,” said Briefing.com.

While shares of some companies such as Microsoft and Chipotle Mexican Grill surged on their reports, two of the three major US indices ended the day lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7 per cent to 33,301.87.

The broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.4 per cent to 4,055.99, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.5 per cent to 11,854.35.

First Republic, meanwhile, suffered another pummeling, ending nearly 30 per cent lower.

“The concerns about a hard lending (or recession) are deepening and the concerns are largely focused on the banking industry,” said Hugh Johnson of Hugh Johnson Economics.

Among other big companies reporting results, Boeing shares gained 0.4 per cent, while Google parent Alphabet slipped 0.2 per cent and Texas Instruments shed 2.9 per cent.

Activision Blizzard plunged 11.5 per cent after British officials blocked Microsoft’s proposed US$69-billion takeover of the US video game company on antitrust grounds.

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Disney shed 1.4 per cent after it sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, alleging his administration’s takeover of its theme park district constituted retaliation over the company’s opposition to a law barring discussion of homosexuality in schools.

Thursday’s calendar includes the government’s advance estimate of first-quarter economic growth, alongside earnings reports from Amazon, American Airlines and construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar. AFP