U.S. futures were down on Wednesday morning following a strong day of trading that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and S&P 500 (SPX) hit new record highs. The market gain was fueled by Nvidia’s (NVDA) strong performance and the boost from China’s monetary easing measures. Meanwhile, futures on the S&P 500, the Dow Jones, and the Nasdaq 100 (NDX) were down by about 0.29%, 0.3%, and 0.45%, respectively, at 3:09 a.m. EST, September 25.
On Tuesday, the Dow gained 0.2%, the S&P 500 climbed 0.25%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.56%. It should be noted that semiconductor stocks were among the standout performers, with Nvidia, Broadcom (AVGO), AMD (AMD), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), and Intel (INTC) all in the green. Furthermore, U.S.-listed Chinese firms such as Alibaba (BABA) and PDD Holdings (PDD) surged 7.9% and 11.2%, respectively, fueled by China’s efforts to boost the economy.
In major stock-market news, the collaboration platform Smartsheet (SMAR) gained 6.5% after announcing an $8.4 billion buyout agreement with private equity powerhouses Vista Equity Partners and Blackstone (BX).
At the same time, Visa (V) stock declined 5.5% following accusations from the Justice Department of upholding an illegal monopoly in the debit card market, leading to a civil antitrust lawsuit against the company. Moreover, Regeneron (REGN) dropped 4.2% yesterday after the company failed to prevent a biosimilar competitor to its top-selling drug, Eylea, from entering the market.
Moving forward, investors are closely watching the key economic data points for insights into the health of the U.S. economy. Today, the housing market’s health will be assessed as August Building Permits and New Home Sales reports are scheduled for release.
Meanwhile, the U.S. 10-year treasury yield was up, floating near 3.737% at the time of writing. However, the WTI crude oil futures are trending lower, hovering near $71.29 per barrel as of the last check.
Elsewhere, European markets are expected to open lower on Wednesday as positive momentum from China’s stimulus measures is expected to fade.
Asia Pacific Market Traded Mixed on Wednesday
Asia-Pacific markets traded on a mixed note as investors assessed the Chinese central bank’s decision to lower the one-year medium-term lending facility rate from 2.3% to 2%.
At the time of writing, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.69%. Also, China’s Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component indices gained 1.21% and 1.28%, respectively. However, Japan’s Nikkei and Topix indices declined 0.19% and 0.23%, respectively.
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