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Stocks were muted Wednesday in trading before key earnings from Tesla, Alphabet, and International Business Machines after the closing bell.
Super Micro Computer Inc. was the S&P 500’s top performer, jumping 19.8% after the AI server maker doubled its previous guidance for gross margins for the fiscal fourth quarter.
Super Micro’s peers also got a boost from the outlook hike. Dell Technologies gained 9.3% and Hewlett Packard Enterprise advanced 3%.
Chip manufacturer Intel declined 2.7%, memory-chip maker Micron fell 1.2%, and memory card maker Sandisk was up o.6%.
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices advanced 1.5%, Corning was down 5.2%, and Marvell gained 1.5%. Nvidia and Western Digital rose 2.3% and 1.5%, respectively.
Higher oil prices were part of the problem on Wednesday—Brent crude rose 3.2% to above $93 a barrel. Investors may be fretting that a flare-up in inflation could bolster the case for the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates. Chevron and Exxon Mobil both moved higher.
ServiceNow fell 6.5%. The company was reporting second-quarter earnings Wednesday afternoon in a troubled time for software companies. ServiceNow is one of the firms at the center of the software-stock meltdown, with its shares down 50% in the past year.
AT&T stock rose 3.5% after the wireless carrier topped analysts’ second-quarter earnings target, potentially helping park fears that Starlink could disrupt the wireless market.
GE Vernova declined 8.7%, placing near the bottom of the S&P 500, as shares erased gains made in premarket trading. The maker of power generation equipment delivered another strong quarter and raised full-year financial guidance. GE Vernova’s earnings and its stock reaction to earnings are important tests for the AI trade.
Philip Morris advanced 3.3% after the tobacco company reported better-than-expected earnings and a rebound in shipments of its Zyn nicotine pouches.
Pegasystems sank 16%. The artificial-intelligence-based enterprise software company issued a warning for the current AI trade, echoing concerns from International Business Machines last week. “Unprecedented changes in the AI market caused clients to delay their purchasing decisions,” the company said in its second-quarter earnings release late Tuesday.
Write to George Glover at [email protected] and Kit Norton at [email protected]