U.S. stocks close: long and short caught in a tug-of-war, the market's continuous rise momentum was blocked, and Alibaba fell more than 9%

Finance Associated Press, November 17 (edited by Niu Zhanlin) Eastern time on Thursday, the main U.S. stock indexes were mixed, with giants such as Walmart and Cisco falling sharply, dragging down the Dow.

In recent days, the three major U.S. stock indexes have continued to rise, as data showed that U.S. inflation has cooled, triggering hopes that the Federal Reserve will end its interest rate hikes. In addition, a temporary grants bill passed this week to avoid a government shutdown has eased some investors' nervousness.

After days of gains, some investors opted to take profits, and the collapse of Cisco and Walmart, two companies that are pillars of their respective industries, has raised some questions about the health of consumers and the tech industry.

Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex, said: "The market is locked in a tug-of-war between bulls and bears today, with economic data not bad enough to trigger recession fears, but not good enough to trigger a carnival. We're about to head into the Thanksgiving holiday, and small surprises can cause big swings. ”

Data released by the U.S. Department of Labor showed that initial jobless claims rose more than expected last week to a nearly three-month high, cementing bets that the Federal Reserve will not need to raise interest rates further, sending Treasury yields lower and dampening losses in U.S. stocks.

Morgan Stanley analyst Chris Larkin said that while it is too early to declare the Fed beating inflation and that it is still far from cutting interest rates, data like the recent one has calmed fears of another rate hike. "The question now is whether this 'Fed-friendly data' will continue to provide upward momentum to equities. ”

On the same day, Cleveland Fed President Mester commented that although inflation has cooled, it will take time to fully fall back to the Fed's 2% target level, and it is not enough to convince her that the Fed has won the battle against inflation. "We've made clear progress on inflation and we need to see more evidence that inflation is going to reach 2% and we haven't decided whether another rate hike is needed. ”

Market dynamics

At the close, the Dow fell 45.74 points, or 0.13%, to 34,945.47, the Nasdaq rose 9.84 points, or 0.07%, to 14,113.67, and the S&P 500 added 5.36 points, or 0.12%, to 4,508.24.

Eleven sectors in the S&P 500 were mixed, with Communication Services up 0.94%, Technology up 0.68%, Utilities up 0.45%, Health Care up 0.38%, Financials up 0.32%, and Materials up 0.25%. The energy sector fell by 2.11%, the consumer staples sector fell by 1.20%, and the consumer discretionary sector fell by 0.91%.

U.S. sector ETFs were mixed, with global technology ETFs up 0.59%. Utilities ETFs rose 0.53%, Technology ETFs rose 0.50%, healthcare ETFs rose 0.43%, and financials ETFs rose 0.40%, while Energy ETFs fell 1.95%, Global Airlines ETFs fell 1.56%, regional banks ETFs fell 1.26%, consumer staples ETFs fell 1.23%, banking ETFs fell 1.13%, and consumer discretionary ETFs fell 1.03%.

Top stock performance

Most of the large technology stocks rose, Intel rose more than 6%, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google A rose more than 1%, Apple and Meta rose slightly, Tesla fell more than 3%, and Amazon fell slightly. Among them, Microsoft continued to hit a new closing high for three consecutive trading days and set a new intraday high.

Walmart, the world's largest retailer, plunged 8 percent, and executives at Walmart warned that U.S. consumers could see a period of deflation in the coming months.

Cisco plunged 9.8% after the company cut its full-year revenue and profit guidance on slowing demand for network equipment. Macy's rose 5.7% after its third-quarter revenue was slightly better than expected and it raised the lower end of its full-year guidance.

Popular Chinese concept stocks fell, and the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index fell 3.09%. Alibaba fell more than 9%, Bilibili fell more than 7%, Weilai and Xiaopeng Motors fell more than 6%, iQiyi, Weibo, Futu Holdings, Li Auto fell more than 4%, Full Bang, Baidu fell more than 3%, Vipshop, NetEase fell more than 2%, JD.com, Pinduoduo fell more than 1%. Tencent Music rose more than 2%.

Company news

[Jack Ma Family Trust intends to sell Alibaba shares]

According to 144 filings on the SEC's website, the two entities vested in the Jack Ma family trust are expected to sell a total of 10 million Alibaba shares around Nov. 21, a sale worth nearly $870 million. According to Alibaba's filings with the SEC, the entities involved in the share sale are JSP Investment Ltd and JC Properties Ltd, each of which sold 5 million Alibaba shares.

[Amazon's prototype satellite test is successful, and the Kuiper plan will be fully promoted]

On Thursday local time, the American technology giant Amazon announced that the two Amazon prototype satellites previously launched were operating normally, and all aspects of testing were successful, paving the way for mass production of satellites. On the same day, Rajeev Badyal, vice president of technology for Amazon's Project Kuiper, said in an interview: "We verified all the projects and got all the data we needed. All the systems, all subsystems, and all system functions that we design for satellites work as designed. Badyal added that 30 days after the satellite launch, we were able to use its network to stream 4K video, two-way video calls, and shop on Amazon. Specifically, the two prototype satellites have achieved satisfactory data on flight control computers, power distribution systems, solar arrays, propulsion systems, and RF communication payloads, and Amazon says it will continue to test the satellites.

[Applied Q4 adjusted earnings per share were higher than expected]

Applied reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.22 versus analysts' expectations of $1.99 for the fiscal fourth quarter, net sales of $6.72 billion versus analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion, and net sales of about $6.47 billion versus analysts' expectations of $6.34 billion for the fiscal first quarter.

[Apple's move to replace Qualcomm chips is expected to lag further behind]

According to reports, Apple is committed to replacing Qualcomm chips, but faces a number of technical challenges, which may cause the iPhone to miss the goal of "launching its own cellular modem by the spring of 2025". Apple wants to develop chips that match or even surpass Qualcomm's performance. Now it seems that Apple may not launch its own cellular modem until the end of 2025 or even the beginning of 2016.

[OpenAI considers introducing ChatGPT into the classroom]

Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer of AI startup OpenAI, said at a recent conference that OpenAI is exploring how to bring its popular chatbot ChatGPT into the classroom. Lightcap claims that OpenAI is expected to form a team in 2024 to study the future of ChatGPT for the education industry. This technology has the potential to disrupt some industries and is becoming a popular learning and work tool. "Many teachers are trying to find ways to integrate ChatGPT into their curriculum and teaching methods, and OpenAI is trying to solve this problem, and we may have a dedicated team to do this next year," he said. ”

(Finance Associated Press, Niu Zhanlin)