- US stocks traded lower as investors waited for Nvidia's first-quarter earnings report after the close.
- Investors also took in comments from Fed officials, which suggested rate cuts weren't imminent.
- The Fed will release the minutes of its last policy meeting Wednesday afternoon.
US stocks slid lower on Wednesday as traders took looked ahead to Nvidia's highly anticipated first-quarter earnings report and took in the latest commentary from Federal Reserve speakers.
All three benchmark indexes traded lower, while bond yields ticked higher. The 10-year Treasury yield rose three basis points to 4.451%.
Nvidia is on deck to report financial results after the closing bell. Wall Street is expecting another blowout quarter from the chipmaker, with analysts expecting the firm to have pulled in $24.6 billion in revenue in the first three months of the year, according to Bloomberg data.
Wall Street is looking for earnings per share of $5.34, with expectations for the report to show demand for the firm's AI-enabling chips on the rise. The stock is up more than 90% so far in 2024.
Investors are also taking in comments from several Fed officials this week, who have reiterated that rate cuts probably won't be coming until there's more progress on inflation.
"I think the data has been very mixed," Boston Fed President Susan Collins said on inflation Tuesday evening. "It's going to take a lot longer than I had previously thought."
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester added that she preferred to see "a few more months" of cooling inflation data before the Fed began cutting interest rates.
Markets have been dialing back their expectations for Fed rate cuts all year. Investors see a near-100% chance the Fed keeps rates level at its June policy meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool, while investors predict one or two cuts by the end of this year.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 5,317.20, down 0.08%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 39,821.15, down 0.18% (-73.67 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 16,845.42, up 0.07%
Here's what else happened today:
- Don't feel bad for Gen Z and millennials because they'll work less and live longer, JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon says.
- America's highest-earning CEO earned $162 million last year - but there's a catch.
- China has dumped a record amount of US Treasury bonds, ramping up de-dollarization efforts.
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
- West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 1.14% to $77.76 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped 1.13% to $81.94 a barrel.
- Gold slipped 0.52% to $2,409.48 per ounce.
- The 10-year Treasury yield ticked higher three basis points to 4.451%.
- Bitcoin dropped 1.88% to $69,784.