Wall Street began the day sharply lower, following a trend seen in overseas markets, but trimmed its losses as dip buyers swooped in. Concern has been rising amid a run of strong inflation data from China, U.S. and the Eurozone over the past few weeks that surging inflation will prompt the Fed to taper and raise rates sooner than previously anticipated. The Fed has repeatedly issued assurances that tapering will not begin until "substantial further progress" is made on the employment and inflation goals. Minutes released today from the central bank's last rate setting meeting show that some members think it may soon be time to at least start discussing adjusting asset purchases in upcoming meetings.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Federal Reserve said in minutes from its last meeting that the U.S. economy is "far from" maximum employment, with some Fed members saying the pandemic has continued to pose downside risks. The central bank added, according to the minutes, that "a number of participants suggested that if the economy continued to make rapid progress toward the Committee's goals, it might be appropriate at some point in upcoming meetings to begin discussing a plan for adjusting the pace of asset purchases."
WTI crude prices fell to three-week lows following inventory data that showed a 1.32M barrel build in U.S. crude supplies. Reports that nuclear deal talks with Iran are progressing weighed on crude oil prices on Tuesday, with some follow through selling seen today.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Target (TGT) closed over 6% higher after the company's first quarter sales and adjusted earnings beat consensus forecasts. Comparable sales grew 22.9% overall, while in-store comparable sales increased 18% and digital comparable sales grew 50%, Target noted. "Our performance in the first quarter was outstanding on every measure, and showcased the power of putting our stores at the center of our strategy," said chairman and CEO Brian Cornell.
In other retail earnings news, Lowe's (LOW) also reported a sales and earnings beat and said its comparable sales increased 25.9% in the first quarter. While Lowe's president and CEO Marvin Ellison called the performance this quarter "outstanding," investors pushed the shares 1% lower amid the market's broader selloff.
Coinbase (COIN) said on its website early this morning that it was investigating "intermittent downtime" on its platform. The company noted partial outages on its website, mobile and API. Subsequently, Coinbase said on its status page that a "fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results." Coinbase shares fell almost 6% amid the selloff in cryptocurrencies, most notably bitcoin. Amid today's bitcoin route, MicroStrategy (MSTR) CEO Michael Saylor said "I'm not selling" via Twitter. Bitcoin ended the session 10.1% lower on a 24-hour change basis at $38,513.20. Meanwhile, another more prominent CEO involved in bitcoin - Tesla's (TSLA) Elon Musk - weighed in on Twitter as well by tweeting the emojis for "diamond hands" during today's massive selloff in bitcoin. Diamond hands, a popular phrase on Reddit's WallStreetBets forum, refers to someone who holds onto an asset, such as a stock, adamantly despite losses.
In new listing news, Squarespace (SQSP) ended at $43.65 in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The direct listing for the "all-in-one" website building and ecommerce platform operator opened at $48 per share after being given a $50 reference price by the NYSE.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Boeing (BA) has restarted deliveries of its 737 MAX on Wednesday after receiving approval on a fix for an electrical grounding issue with affected roughly 100 737 MAX aircraft.
Additionally, CNBC reported that Ford (F) intends to halt or slash production at eight North American factories for varying periods of time through June as a result of an ongoing shortage of semiconductors affecting the car industry.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Reata Pharmaceuticals (RETA), which rose 23.8% after the FDA asked the company to request a pre-NDA meeting for omaveloxolone. Also higher were ZIM Integrated (ZIM) and Take-Two (TTWO), which gained a respective 8.7% and 7% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA), which dropped 39.5% after it received regulatory feedback from the FDA regarding its potency assays for lifileucel and then disclosed that President and CEO Maria Fardis notified the company that she will be resigning to pursue other opportunities. Also lower was Container Store (TCS), which fell more than 11% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 164.62, or 0.48%, to 33,896.04, the Nasdaq lost 3.90, or 0.029%, to 13,299.74, and the S&P 500 declined 12.15, or 0.29%, to 4,115.68.
Target
+12.75 (+6.18%)
Lowe's
-2.115 (-1.10%)
Coinbase
-14.455 (-6.05%)
MicroStrategy
-31.27 (-6.43%)
Bitcoin
+
Bitcoin
+
Bitcoin
+
Tesla
-14.3 (-2.48%)
Squarespace
-5.205 (-10.73%)
Boeing
-3.18 (-1.40%)
Ford
-0.025 (-0.21%)
Reata Pharmaceuticals
+19.59 (+23.61%)
ZIM Integrated
+3.63 (+8.69%)
Take-Two
+11.52 (+6.86%)
Iovance Biotherapeutics
-10.61 (-39.34%)
Container Store
-1.475 (-11.26%)