Stocks Falter, Metals Fall As Traders Turn Cautious Ahead Of Fed Minutes, Nvidia Earnings; First Solar Hits Record Highs: What's Driving Markets Wednesday?

Wall Street experienced a muted session on Wednesday morning as traders adopted a cautious stance ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes release at 2 p.m. EDT and Nvidia Corp. NVDA earnings announcement after the market close.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gained 0.2%, slightly outperforming other major indices, with the S&P 500 and the Dow both in negative territory by midday in New York.

Small caps, tracked by the iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM, fell by 0.4%.

Significant gains were observed in solar and clean energy industries. The Invesco Solar ETF TAN surged nearly 9%, and the Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF PBW jumped 5%. These gains were likely driven by newly announced trade tariff modifications on solar manufacturing equipment by the United States Trade Representative.

Notably, First Solar Inc. FSLR soared 16% to fresh all-time highs, on track for its top-performing session gains in over a year.

Treasury yields remained steady, while the U.S. dollar index (DXY) strengthened by 0.2%. Traders are currently pricing in a 42-basis-point reduction in Federal Reserve rates by year-end.

In the commodities markets, metals saw significant declines, with gold, silver and copper falling 1.2%, 2% and 4.9%, respectively, with copper particularly affected by reports of abundant inventories in China.

Natural gas prices rallied over 4%, while oil prices eased by 0.6%. In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin BTC/USD remained flat at $70,400.

Wednesday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.1% lower to $530.75, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA fell 0.2% to $397.99 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ was up 0.1% to $456.34, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

Among sectors, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK outperformed, up by 0.5%. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE lagged behind, dropping 1.8%, likely impacted by news of the Biden administration directing the Department of Energy to release 1 million barrels of gasoline from strategic reserves.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

• Other than First Solar, solar stocks rallying on Wednesday included Enphase Energy Inc. ENPH up 9%, SunPower Corp. SPWR, up 28% and Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd. MAXN up 27%.
• Tesla Inc. TSLA fell 3%, after the EV maker reported a decline in annual sales in Europe.
• TJX Companies Inc. TJX rose 6% in reaction to quarterly earnings.
• Other companies reacting to earnings were Analog Devices Inc. ADI, up 8.8%, Target Corp. TGT, down 7.5%, Williams-Sonoma Inc. WSM, down 6.7%, Dycom Industries Inc. DY, up 8.5%, Toll Brothers Inc. TOL, down 7.2%, XP Inc. XP, down 12%, Brady Corp. BRC, up 8.8%, Golden Ocean Group Ltd GOGL, down 9.5% and ViaSat Inc. VSAT down 15%.
• Companies slated to report their earnings after the close include Nvidia Corp, Synopsys Inc. SNPS, Snowflake Inc. SNOW, V.F. Corp. VFC and BBB Funds Inc. TBBB.

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