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By 13:12 ET (18:12 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 64 points, or 0.1%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.2% and the NASDAQ Composite dropped 0.7%.
Nvidia stock continued to fall, after closing 4% lower Tuesday, hitting sentiment Wednesday. The chipmaking heavyweight, which is at the heart of an artificial intelligence-led valuation spike over the past year, is expected to clock EPS of $4.58 on a revenue of $20.37 billion – both up substantially from the same period a year ago.
But doubts over Nvidia’s outlook and stretched price-to-earnings ratio have spurred some profit-taking in the chipmaker, which had raced to record highs in recent sessions.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) fell more than 26% after cutting its full-year guidance as the cybersecurity company changed its strategy by increasing free product offers — expected to weigh on billings growth for 12-to-18 months — to customers in the hope of accelerating adoption of its offerings.
Teladoc (NYSE:TDOC) slumped 25% on disappointing first-quarter guidance as the on-line health-care company as its BetterHelp therapy platform’s lower marketing spending yields are expected to continue in the months ahead.
SolarEdge Technologies, meanwhile, (NASDAQ:SEDG) fell 13% on weak first-quarter revenue guidance as inventory overhan is expected to continue to weigh on margins. The solar company’s management attempted to tout potential drivers to boost margin, Oppenheimer said in note, but “we believe the diversity of products and end-markets SEDG serves points to the potential for an uneven recovery.”
Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) fell 5% as restaurant chain’s better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings were overshadowed by fourth-straight quarterly revenue decline.
Markets were now awaiting the release of the minutes of the Fed’s late-January meeting, due later on Wednesday, for more cues on the path of interest rates.
While the central bank had kept rates on hold during the meeting, it had also warned that sticky inflation was likely to keep U.S. interest rates higher for longer in 2024.
“The Fed has already made the case for ‘taking its time’, and OIS yields having responded to that message robustly. So its unlikely that the minutes will be ‘market moving’ – unless the minutes veer into a discussion of
QT tapering,” said analysts at Macquarie, in a note.
Comments from a slew of Fed speakers, including Raphael Bostic and Michelle Bowman are also on tap later in the day.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up 0.5% as the e-commerce giant is set to replace Walgreen Boosts Alliance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index before markets open on Feb. 26. The move was triggered by Walmart’s decision to do a 3-to-1 stock split, which will cut its weighing in the index.
Amazon’s weight will be 17, out of the 30 stocks in the index, while Walmart (NYSE:WMT) will drop to 26 from 17.
(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
