The up and down market of March continued overnight with all three US stock markets finishing lower, led by the Dow Jones and Nasdaq, down 1.3% each while the S&P 500 fell 1.2%.
The primary driver on a daily basis remains sentiment, with the fluctuating oil price neatly driving day-to-day movements, jumping over US$115 per barrel in the session.
Quality continues to win out, with the likes of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) outperforming along with the continued resurgence in the Chinese market where Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) added another 2%.
All eyes remain on Fed officials with more dissenters now suggesting a 50 basis point hike will be appropriate.
US new home sales fell 2%, worse than expected, in a precursor to an expected weakening in consumer spending due to energy prices whilst Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) shares fell 4% despite announcing it will seek approval for its vaccine within children under six.
Two years since bottom
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the COVID-19 selloff, with the S&P 500 now having doubled, rising 100% in the period since, the Nasdaq gaining 105% and the Dow Jones up 87%, rewarding those who stayed invested.
Okta hit by data breach
Shares in cybersecurity and identification firm Okta (NASDAQ: OKTA) fell 10% after new details emerged about a potential data breach. The compromise occurred in January, but details are only coming to light now after a lengthy investigation and a hacker group who published screenshots and forced the company’s hand.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks performed on Wednesday.
- Newmont (NYSE: NEM) up 3.8%
- Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) up 2.4%
- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) down 3.3%
- Micron (NASDAQ: MU) down 4.4%
- ResMed (NYSE: RMD) down 8.6%
- Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) down 9.4%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is tipped to open flat when the market opens this morning. For a round-up of the latest news, check out my ASX 200 morning report.
