U.S. stocks rose Wednesday morning as Wall Street looked to recover from a downbeat start to the week and new year. Investors await a flurry of economic data and minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting for clues on the central bank’s next rate decision.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) advanced 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) added 60 points, or 0.2%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was also up by 0.3%.
U.S. Treasury yields dropped, with the benchmark 10-year note falling 10 basis points to yield around 3.69% as of 9:35 a.m. ET, while the 2-year yield was down about seven basis points to 4.33%.
The U.S. dollar index also fell. And oil prices continued to sink, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures — the U.S. benchmark — dropping 3.2% to $74.50 per barrel.
The moves Wednesday morning follow a bleak start to 2023 trading as many of last year’s pressures follow investors into the new year. On Tuesday, all three major averages closed lower.
All eyes were on Tesla (TSLA) again Wednesday after shares plunged 12% in the first trading day of 2023 Tuesday. It marked Tesla’s biggest drop in more than two years and erased all the recovery gains made in the final three sessions of 2022 last week. Shares rose 2% at the open on Wednesday.
The electric carmaker earlier this week reported vehicle production and delivery figures for the fourth quarter that disappointed Wall Street, piling on another woe for investors already weighing concerns over production at Tesla’s China plant and CEO Elon Musk’s management of Twitter.
Shares of Alibaba Group (BABA) soared 5.8% after billionaire co-founder Jack Ma won approval from Chinese regulators to raise 10.5 billion yuan — or $1.5 billion — for subsidiary Ant Group’s consumer finance business. Other U.S.-listed Chinese stocks also gained.
Salesforce (CRM) on Wednesday announced restructuring plans that included cutting about 10% of its workforce and closing some of its offices, joining a growing list of technology companies laying off workers to cut costs after overhiring…
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