The market was positive in early trading Thursday, helped by a slate of positive corporate news from the likes of Walt Disney (DIS (opens in new tab)), Telsa (TSLA (opens in new tab)) and AstraZeneca (AZN (opens in new tab)). But the major benchmarks lost ground once again as worries about rising interest rates more than offset upbeat developments from some of the market’s biggest and best-known names.
On Thursday it was Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin’s turn to throw water on any hopes for a more dovish turn in monetary policy. The Fed official reiterated in an interview (opens in new tab) the importance “staying the course” in order to return inflation to the central bank’s 2% target.
With anxiety rising about the possibility of a Fed-induced recession, stocks reversed course even as a number of companies reported upbeat news.
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Dow component Walt Disney beat Wall Street’s earnings estimates and said it would cut costs dramatically. The company announced a plan to eliminate about 7,000 jobs, ending its fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners. Additionally, Disney CEO Bob Iger said he would ask the board to reinstate the dividend, which was suspended in early 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shares in Disney gained more than 5% at one point in early trades, but faded late in the session to finish down 1.3%.
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Elsewhere, Tesla (+3.0%) caught a bid after CEO Elon Musk said the electric-vehicle company’s “Master Plan 3” would be unveiled at the company’s annual meeting on March 1. Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (+4.8%) did its part to help lift traders’ spirits by offering a strong 2023 fiscal outlook.
By the closing bell, however, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% to 33,699, while the broader S&P 500 declined 0.9% to 4,081. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.0% to finish at 11,789.
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