Stock market news live updates: S&P 500 sinks further into correction, setting new 2022 low with Russia-Ukraine in focus - Yahoo Canada Finance | Canada News Media
Stocks extended losses on Wednesday after a steep sell-off during Tuesday’s trading day, which pushed the S&P 500 and Dow to their lowest settlements so far of 2022.
The S&P 500 wiped out early advances to trade sharply lower in afternoon trading. The blue-chip index had also closed lower by just over 1% on Tuesday, bringing it more than 10% from its record closing high from Jan. 3 — or below the threshold to enter a correction. The Nasdaq and Dow also rose following declines a day earlier.
Hopes of a diplomatic resolution for tensions between Russia and Ukraine appeared to deteriorate this week, as President Joe Biden publicly called Russia’s move to deploy troops to separatist regions of Ukraine “the beginning of a Russian invasion” of the region. The U.S. unleashed a first tranche of sanctions on Russian financial institutions, sovereign debt and several key individuals in the country. Late Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said he called off a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, that was supposed to take place this week.
Risk assets slid on Tuesday as investors considered the financial market implications of an escalating threat of military attack and greater sanctions on Russia. As European allies also coordinated their response to Russia’s increased military presence in and around Ukraine, Germany halted approval of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline that would have deepened western Europe’s energy link to Russia, the world’s largest natural gas exporter. Crude oil prices spiked to a seven-year high, and Brent crude neared $100 per barrel as investors contemplated the potential for further energy-linked sanctions on Russia, the third-largest oil producer in the world.
For U.S. investors, the mounting geopolitical concerns also further complicate the next move by the Federal Reserve, which has so far signaled it is prioritizing bringing down inflationary pressures. Though investors are already pricing in an at least 25 basis point interest rate hike from the Fed at its mid-March meeting, the tensions between Russia and Ukraine — and potential further price increases that an escalating conflict could stoke — create a further communication and policy complexity for the central bank.
“If the status quo holds, all we’re going to see is a very limited impact on growth and inflation. Should we see a full-fledged invasion followed by much tougher sanctions, then we’re going to be in a very different world,” Joe Brusuelas, RSM chief economist, told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday. “Our baseline is now expecting a 20% increase in the price of oil. Now that’s from two weeks ago — we’re about 7% of the way there. If that occurs, you’ll see 1% shaved off growth this year .. and you’ll see an addition 2.8% or thereabouts increase in inflation.”
“The Federal Reserve and their global central banking brethren are in a very difficult position now,” he added. “They’re going to have to hike into what could be an energy shock and a slowing global economy. My sense is the Federal Reserve ought to hike by 25 basis points at the March meeting, but they ought to use the opportunity in both the communique and the Summary of Economic Projections, to note the risks around the evolving global environment.”
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4:22 p.m. ET: S&P 500 sinks further into correction, setting new 2022 low with Russia-Ukraine in focus
Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:22 p.m. ET:
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly market composite index trading mortgage loan application volume fell 13.1% week-on-week for the period ended Feb. 18. This followed a more than 5% drop during the prior week.
Refinances fell by 16% over last week, and by a marked 56% compared to the same week last year. Purchases, meanwhile, fell 10% on a week-on-week basis, when adjusted for seasonality. Compared to the same period last year, purchases were down by 6%, not seasonally adjusted.
“The 30-year fixed rate was 4.06%, almost a full percentage point higher than a year ago. Higher mortgage rates have quickly shut off refinances, with activity down in six of the first seven weeks of 2022,” Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting, said in a press statement. “Purchase applications, already constrained by elevated sales prices and tight inventory, have also been impacted by these higher rates and declined for the third straight week. While the average loan size did not increase this week, it remained close to the survey’s record high.”
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10:41 a.m. ET: Stocks turn lower with tech under renewed pressure
The three major stock indexes erased earlier gains to trade in negative territory Wednesday morning, with technology stocks swinging into sharply negative territory after advancing earlier.
The Nasdaq fell by 0.4%, after gaining more than 1% at session highs just after market open. The S&P 500 and Dow were each also off by more than 0.2%.
Within the S&P 500, the consumer discretionary sector — which houses names including Amazon, Apple and Tesla — was the biggest laggard alongside industrials and utilities. The energy sector outperformed as crude oil prices extended gains.
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9:31 a.m. ET: Stocks open higher, Nasdaq gains about 1%
Here’s where stocks were trading Wednesday morning just after market open:
Lowe’s (LOW) adjusted earnings per share totaled $1.78, exceeding expectations by 8 cents. Net sales were $21.34 billion, also ahead of the $20.90 billion anticipated. For the full year, closely watched comparable sales will likely come in in a range of -1% to 1% this year, the company added, with this range improving from the -3% to 0% sales growth outlook seen previously. In the fourth quarter, comparable sales grew 5%, or more than double the consensus estimate.
“In 2021, we increased comparable sales by 6.9% while generating over 170 basis points of operating margin improvement, with our relentless focus on productivity and enhanced pricing strategies,” Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s CEO and chairman, said in a press statement. “We remain confident in the long-term strength of the home improvement market, and our ability to expand operating margin.”
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7:26 a.m. ET Wednesday: Stock futures hold onto overnight gains
Here’s where stocks were trading before the opening bell:
S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +26.75 points (+0.62%), to 4,326.75
Dow futures (YM=F): +177 points (+0.53%), to 33,702.00
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +135.00 points (+0.97%) to 13,997.75
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
