Market Review. The New York Stock Exchange opened without enthusiasm on Wednesday, as caution prevailed ahead of the release after the close of results from memory chip maker Micron, a barometer for the semiconductor sector following a sharp drop the previous day.
The Toronto Stock Exchange lost nearly 150 points in late morning, dragged down by declines in the energy and base metals sectors, as oil prices fell below US$70 a barrel.
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"All eyes are on Micron," summarized David Morrison, analyst at Trade Nation.
The American semiconductor giant is set to publish its financial results for the third quarter of its delayed fiscal year after the Wall Street close.
The day before, its stock had plummeted more than 13%, swept up — like the rest of the sector — by a new wave of distrust toward artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, as well as profit-taking.
"We are eagerly awaiting how investors and the entire ecosystem will react based on the group's results and forecasts," noted Ken Mahoney, analyst at Mahoney Asset Management. "The stock price already factors in many positive elements, so there is a risk of disappointment," he warned.
"We feel that any result that is not exceptionally positive will serve as a pretext for further selling in the technology sector," the analyst continued.
Micron recently joined the club of companies with a market capitalization over US$1,000 billion. Since the start of the year, its stock price has more than tripled.
While awaiting the results of the Boise (Idaho) company, chip specialists are moving in a mixed fashion after their slide, as seen with Sandisk (-0.58%), Intel (-0.47%), AMD (+0.24%), and giant Nvidia (+0.02%).
Meanwhile, oil prices fell on Wednesday to levels not seen since the start of the war in the Middle East, "which should somewhat ease the pressure" on the stock market, Peter Cardillo, analyst at Spartan Capital Securities, told AFP.
The easing of bond yields could also relieve the U.S. market. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was around 4.41% at 10:10 a.m., compared to 4.50% the previous day at close.
On the economic data front, traders await the release on Thursday of the U.S. PCE price index for May, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, as well as the final estimate of U.S. first-quarter GDP.
On the stock exchange, parcel and package delivery group Fedex (-1.60% to $312.17) was losing ground. Despite quarterly performance above expectations, the group's annual forecasts failed to convince.
American chip startup Cerebras (-14.85% to $193.05) tumbled, suffering from mixed results — the group's first as a listed company — and disappointing outlook regarding its margins.
Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive (-0.85% to $240.57), parent company of Rockstar Games, was down slightly, as the highly anticipated video game "Grand Theft Auto VI," the latest installment in the saga, opens pre-orders on Thursday at midnight.
