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Stocks were set for a mixed open as investors looked ahead to the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting. Tilray, BlackBerry, and Viacom were among the stocks on the move.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
dropped 72 points, or 0.2%, while the
S&P 500
fell 0.1% and the
Nasdaq Composite
advanced 0.05%.
The Federal Reserve will release the minutes from the July FOMC meeting this afternoon, and investors will be looking for clues that the central bank is close to tapering—or reducing the size of—its asset purchasing program. The rhetoric emerging from the central bank’s members recently has been pointing toward more openness to the idea that it should begin sooner rather than later. When even a dove like Neel Kashkari is calling a taper “reasonable,” you know the risk is real.
The Federal Reserve isn’t the only central bank getting attention Wednesday. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept short-term interest rates at 0.25%, citing the recent lockdowns in response to the spread of Covid-19. Analysts had expected the bank to lift interest rates, but the surprise decision to hold off confirms that some areas around the globe are experiencing a slowdown in economic growth because of safety restrictions in light of the spread of the Delta variant. Recently, China has restricted port activity and many U.S. companies are having trouble accessing supplies from around the globe.
“Stock futures are slightly lower as investors digest dovish central bank developments,” writes Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report Research.
Here are stocks making moves in Wednesday’s premarket action:
Lowe`s
(LOW) stock rose 4% after reporting a profit of $4.25 a share, beating estimates of $4.01 a share, on sales of $27.6 billion, above expectations for $26.9 billion.
Target
(TGT) stock fell 1.75% after reporting a profit of $3.64 a share, beating estimates of $3.49 a share, on sales of $25.2 billion, above expectations for $25.1 billion.
TJX
(TJX) stock rose 1.2% after reporting a profit of 64 cents a share, beating estimates of 59 cents a share, on sales of $12.1 billion, above expectations for $11 billion.
ViacomCBS
(VIAC) stock rose 3% after getting upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo.
BlackBerry
(BB) stock rose 1.3% after getting upgraded to Hold from Sell at Canaccord Genuity.
Tilray
(TLRY) stock rose 7.5% after the company bought senior secured convertible notes in marijuana company
MedMen Enterprises.
The notes would convert into an equity stake if cannabis is legalized in the U.S.
Write to Jacob Sonenshine at jacob.sonenshine@barrons.com
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