S&P 500 Edges Lower; General Mills Cuts Sales Forecast

U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the S&P 500 turning lower on Wednesday.

The Dow traded up 0.07% to 37,586.02 while the NASDAQ rose 0.17% to 15,029.36. The S&P 500, however, fell 0.04% to 4,766.46.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares jumped by 1.4% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples shares fell by 1%.

Top Headline

General Mills Inc GIS reported downbeat sales for its second quarter and lowered its annual sales outlook.

The company reported a second-quarter sales decline of 2% year-on-year to $5.14 billion, missing the analyst consensus estimate of $5.35 billion. Adjusted EPS of $1.25 beat the consensus estimate of $1.16.

General Mills cut its FY24 organic sales outlook from 3%-4% growth to range down 1%-flat. The company revised FY24 adjusted EPS growth guidance from 4%-6% to 4%-5% in constant currency.

Equities Trading UP

Steelcase Inc. SCS shares shot up 12% to $14.19. Steelcase posted upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed estimates. The company said it sees fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 19 cents to 23 cents per share on revenue of $765 million to $790 million.

Shares of ParaZero Technologies Ltd. PRZO got a boost, surging 82% to $1.2750 after the company announced the successful completion of its safety solution development for a Fortune 500 leading global automotive manufacturer's proprietary drone program.

Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. CCO shares were also up, gaining 13% to $1.9050. Clear Channel Outdoor named David Sailer as Executive Vice President, CFO, effective as of March 1, 2024 and reaffirmed guidance for FY23.

Equities Trading DOWN

bluebird bio, Inc. BLUE shares dropped 45% to $1.3450 after the company announced pricing of a $125 million public offering of common stock.

Shares of KULR Technology Group, Inc. KULR were down 23% to $0.2285 after the company reported pricing of $900,000 public offering of common stock.

AgriFORCE Growing Systems Ltd. AGRI was down, falling 30% to $0.4050. Agriforce Growing Systems filed for offering of up to 8.72 million shares of common stock by the selling stockholders.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $74.43 while gold traded down 0.3% at $2,045.90.

Silver traded up 1.2% to $24.61 on Wednesday while copper rose 0.2% to $3.9055.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.19%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.02% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.06% The German DAX fell 0.07% French CAC 40 rose 0.12%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.01%.

Construction output in the Eurozone fell by 0.7% year-over-year in October following a revised 0.7% increase in the prior month. The Eurozone posted a current account surplus of EUR 30.1 billion in October versus a year-ago deficit of EUR 14.6 billion. Passenger car registrations in the European Union surged 6.7% year-over-year to 855.6 thousand units during November.

Producer prices in Germany fell by 7.9% year-over-year in November, while the GfK Consumer Climate Indicator for Germany increased to -25.1 heading into January versus a revised reading of -27.6 in December. UK producer prices decline 0.2% year-over-year in November, while annual inflation rate in the UK eased to 3.9% in November from 4.6% in October.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.37%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.66% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 1.03%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, fell 1.3%.

The People's Bank of China held its lending rates at the December fixing. Japanese trade deficit narrowed to JPY 776.94 billion in November from JPY 2,057,64 billion in the year-ago period.

Economics

The US current account deficit narrowed by 7.6% to $200.3 billion in the third quarter, versus the revised figure of $216.8 billion in the prior quarter and compared to markets estimates of a $196 billion gap.

Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. rose by 0.8% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 3.82 million units in November.

The EIA said crude oil inventories in the U.S. increased by 2.909 million barrels in the week ending Dec. 15, vereus market estimates of a 2.283 million-barrel decline.

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