Stocks slumped as rising geopolitical tensions and anxiety about the state of all things AI sapped the market's appetite for risk assets. An escalation in the war between Russia and Ukraine and Nvidia's third-quarter earnings release slated for release after the close lifted defensive sectors, while safe havens such as the dollar and gold caught a bid.
Russia-Ukraine tensions set the tone for trading early in session, with all three major benchmarks gapping lower at the open and staying negative for much of the session.
Reports that Ukraine for the first time fired cruise missiles supplied by the U.K. at targets inside Russia raised alarms, as the attack came a day after Ukraine first employed U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) on targets in Russia.
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At the same time, market participants awaited Nvidia's (NVDA) highly anticipated third-quarter earnings release, slated for after the close. Indeed, NVDA earnings have become an event on par with the jobs report or the conclusion of the next Fed meeting when it comes to figuring out where the market might be headed.
As for Nvidia's fiscal third-quarter results, analysts tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence forecast earnings to rise 85% year over year to 74 cents per share and revenue to jump 82% to $33 billion.
Readers can follow live updates and commentary on Nvidia earnings as they develop later today.
Wherever NVDA stock goes from here, it's already the top-rated Dow Jones stock as well as one of Wall Street's best S&P 500 stocks to buy. Furthermore, anyone who invested $1,000 in Nvidia stock 20 years ago would be thrilled with their returns today.
The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average spent much of the session in the red before rallying into the close, ending up 0.3% at 43,408. The broader S&P 500 closed flat after falling as much as 1% earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite recovered much of its earlier losses to finish off 0.1% at 18,966.
Stocks on the move
Target (TGT) stock plunged 21.4% after the big box retailer missed top- and bottom-line expectations for its third quarter and slashed its full-year profit forecast.
"We encountered some unique challenges and cost pressures that impacted our bottom-line performance," Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a news release.
For its fourth quarter, Target said it expects approximately flat same-store sales growth and earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $1.85 to $2.45. The midpoint of its earnings-per-share forecast, $2.15, came in significantly below the $2.62 per share analysts were modeling.
For the full fiscal year, Target said it now expects EPS to arrive between $8.30 to $8.90, down from its previous forecast for earnings of $9 to $9.70.
TJX Companies (TJX) stock added 0.2% after the parent company of TJ Maxx, HomeGoods and Sierra beat top- and bottom-line expectations for its fiscal 2025 third quarter and raised its full-year profit forecast.
As a result of its "above-plan profitability results in the third quarter," TJX raised its full-year profit forecast. It now expects to achieve EPS in the range of $4.15 to $4.17, up from its previous forecast of $4.09 to $4.13. Management added that it continues to anticipate consolidated comparable-store sales to rise 3%.
For the fourth quarter, TJX said it expects to achieve comparable-store sales growth in the range of 2% to 3% and earnings per share between $1.12 to $1.14. However, the midpoint of this range, $1.13 per share, came up short of the average analyst estimate of approximately $1.18 per share.
Comcast shrinks to grow
In a massive industry shakeup, Comcast (CMCSA) rose 1.6% after the telecommunications and media conglomerate announced its intention to spin off select cable networks and digital assets into a new publicly traded company.
Comcast said Wednesday it will spin off select cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel.
The spinoff includes some of CMCSA's digital assets, including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and SportsEngine. It will create a new publicly traded company called SpinCo.
"When you look at our assets, talented management team and balance sheet strength, we are able to set these businesses up for future growth," Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement. "With significant financial resources from day one, SpinCo will be ideally positioned for success and highly attractive to investors, content creators, distributors and potential partners."
SpinCo will be a pure-play news, sports and entertainment business reaching approximately 70 million households and will be led by Mark Lazarus, the current chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, as CEO.
Shares in Comcast, which was once considered to be a contender for inclusion in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, lag the S&P 500 on an annualized total return basis by very wide margins over the past one-, three-, five- and 10-year periods.
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