Today’s stock market is experiencing a sense of calm as Wall Street awaits news from the Federal Reserve. The excitement surrounding artificial-intelligence technology seems to be cooling off, with U.S. stocks showing a mixed picture.
The S&P 500 is down 0.2% in early trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite is down 0.6%. Nvidia, a key player in AI technology, saw its stock fall 1.9% after announcing new products at its developers’ conference. Despite analysts praising the new products, Nvidia’s stock has already surged more than 240% over the past year.
On the other hand, Super Micro Computer, a seller of server and storage systems used in AI and other computing, saw its stock plummet 9.2% after announcing plans to sell 2 million more shares. Meanwhile, shares of Unilever traded in the United States rose 2.6% after the company announced it would spin off Ben & Jerry’s and other ice cream businesses, along with cutting 7,500 jobs.
The focus on Wall Street now turns to the Federal Reserve’s meeting on interest rates, with an announcement expected on Wednesday. While the consensus is for the Fed to leave its main interest rate unchanged at a two-decade high, there is hope for indications of future rate cuts later in the year.
Recent reports of higher-than-expected inflation have dampened hopes for such rate cuts, causing traders to adjust their expectations. This has contributed to easing Treasury yields in the bond market, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipping to 4.31%.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin’s price has been on a downward trend since reaching a peak above $73,000 last week. It fell another 7% to drop below $63,300, highlighting the volatility of cryptocurrencies in response to market factors.
In global stock markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% after the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in 17 years. This move, widely expected, marks a shift from “extraordinary easing” to “normal” easing, according to economists at Bank of America.
However, stocks in Hong Kong fell 1.2% and in Shanghai fell 0.7% after troubled property developer China Evergrande Group was fined 4.2 billion yuan ($333.4 million) by Beijing’s market watchdog for allegedly falsifying its revenue, among other violations.
Stocks in Asia and Europe are showing mixed results, reflecting the varied impacts of economic and market developments across different regions.
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