The three major U.S. equities indices closed again on Tuesday. The Nasdaq closed 2.3% lower, the Dow Jones industrials were down 0.2% and the S&P 500 was down 1.2%. In S&P 500 stocks, losers outperformed winners by slightly more than three to one on Tuesday. Nine of the 11 sectors closed lower, led by tech (down 2.3%), communications services (2.0%) and consumer cyclicals (1.7%). The energy (up 3.9%) and financial (0.4%) sectors ended higher.
Crude settled at $ 85.60 on Tuesday and traded about 0.4% in early trading on Wednesday at $ 85.93. The 10-year/two-year US Treasury note spread ended the day at 0.749%, generally flat.
These five S&P 500 stocks closed with the biggest gains on Tuesday: American Express (up 8.92%), Occidental Petroleum (8.12%), Halliburton (7.00%), Marathon Oil (6.56%) and Diamondback Energy (6.33 %).
The biggest losers on Tuesday in S&P 500 stocks were NextEra Energy (down 8.33%), Monolithic Power Systems (6.87%), Paycom (6.63%), IDEXX (6.54%) and Xilinx (6.53%).
At around 7:00 am ET Wednesday morning, the S&P 500 futures traded up about 1.56%, the Nasdaq traded up 2.24%and the Dow traded up nearly 1.14%.
The leading gainer in S&P 500 stocks in premarket trading on Wednesday was ServiceNow Inc. (NASDAQ: NOW), rose approximately 3.70% to $ 513.16. The company reports quarterly results after the markets close.
Carnival Corp. traded. & PLC (NYSE: CCL) by 3.56% to $ 20.92. The company has no specific news.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) traded 3.10%. Ford and GM CEOs are scheduled to meet with President Biden on Wednesday to discuss the president’s economic recovery plan.
Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) traded up 2.96% in the premarket on Wednesday. The company has no specific news.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH) traded up 2.91% on Wednesday. The company has no specific news.
Stocks trading lower in Wednesday’s premarket session included Nielsen Holdings PLC (NYSE: NLSN), which dropped 3.82% to $ 18.65. Goldman Sachs lowered the stock from Hold to Sell on Wednesday morning and lowered its price target to $ 17.
Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) traded down about 1.2% Wednesday morning at $ 172.42. The company has no specific news.
Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) closed slightly on Tuesday and traded less than 1% in Wednesday’s premarket at $ 79.38. The company has no specific news.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) traded less than 1% on Wednesday morning. JP Morgan analysts lowered their rating on the stock from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $ 62 to $ 56.
General Dynamics Inc. (NYSE: GD) traded less than 1% on Wednesday morning at $ 204.00. The defense contractor did not get the revenue estimates, although it lost out on revenues.