US stocks erased previous gains and were in the red on Wednesday as investors exited major technology stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a gain of 130 points and traded 50 points lower. The S&P 500 fell 0.1 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3% after both hitting all-time highs at the start of the session. Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Netflix all slipped into negative territory.
The main averages rebounded at record levels as investors welcomed a range of solid corporate earnings and data on subdued inflation.
The US consumer price index rose 0.3% in January, in line with the expectations of economists polled by Dow Jones. The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, was unchanged last month.
“One of the concerns is that inflation will come due to so many monetary and fiscal stimuli that the Treasury and the Fed will intervene,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt. “All of the news suggests that inflation will be lower for longer, delaying the potential response to withdraw some of the stimulus.”
Coca-Cola was up 1% after the company beat Wall Street’s fourth quarter earnings estimates with cost-cutting efforts. Under Armor surged more than 6% after reporting a surprise profit for the vacation quarter as sales grew on strong digital growth.
Twitter rose about 10% after the social media company beat Wall Street’s profit and revenue expectations.
Traders will also be closely watching the speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell outside the New York Business Club at 2:00 p.m.
On Tuesday, the 30-share Dow and S&P 500 fell slightly to a six-day winning streak.
Still, Wall Street had a strong February with the S&P 500 up more than 5%. Investors remained optimistic about the additional Covid-19 stimulus. The House Democrats revealed the details of a relief proposal that included direct checks worth $ 1,400 with faster exit options than previous bills.
“The virus continues to mutate, vaccines are taking longer than expected to spread and as a result, herd immunity appears to be taking much longer,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer of the Independent Advisor Alliance. “On the upside, massive fiscal stimulus and a highly accommodative Federal Reserve should drive stocks up while we wait for these setbacks to be resolved.”
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