Financial Animal Buzz on Business for Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023

Traders largely sat on the sidelines on Tuesday, awaiting the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting and the earnings report from chipmaker NVIDIA. While the market had been expecting some fireworks, neither event provided the catalyst for a significant move.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened lower and meandered all day, closing off 63 points, or 0.2%, to 35,088. The S&P 500 also lost 0.2%, closing at 4,538, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% to 14,200.

Bonds traded in a tight range, mostly to the upside. The yield on the two-year Treasury fell three basis points to 4.879%, while the twenty-year yield fell two ticks to 4.737%.

Gold rallied and closed at $2,000 an ounce, up $20. Oil was off 20 cents to $77.76 a barrel.

Market's Focus Shifts to Consumer Confidence

The Federal Reserve's minutes did not reveal any major surprises, but the market seemed to interpret them as a slight softening of the central bank's hawkish stance. This, however, had no impact on stocks.

Investors then turned their attention to NVIDIA, which reported earnings that crushed expectations. The chipmaker reported profits of $4.02 a share on revenue of $18.12 billion, well above expectations of profits of $3.36 a share on revenue of $16.18 billion. The company also raised expectations for the fourth quarter.

Despite NVIDIA's strong performance, stocks ended the day little changed. Traders will be closely watching how the market reacts to all of the news when markets open today.

In other news, Lowe's and Best Buy both reported earnings that exceeded expectations but disappointed on sales. Both companies also guided analysts lower for the fourth quarter. This is in line with other big retailers and may indicate a weakening in consumer spending.

There are no earnings from other retailers on the horizon, but we do get the Consumer Confidence figures next Tuesday.

Markets Closed for Thanksgiving

Markets will be closed tomorrow and Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. The Buzz on Business will not be publishing an episode on either day nor will it publish a PREMIUM episode this Sunday.

We wish all of our listeners, their friends, neighbors, and families a happy Thanksgiving. We will resume our regular publishing schedule on Monday, November 27th.