US close: Stocks mixed as Disney results drag Dow lower

Wall Street experienced a mixed close on Thursday, with the Dow leading the decline after disappointing results from Disney.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.66% to close at 33,309.51, while the S&P 500 registered a smaller loss, closing 0.17% lower at 4,130.62.

In contrast, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.18% to end the day at 12,328.51.

Investors were also reacting to news of the Bank of England's latest interest rate hike from across the pond.

Currency markets saw the dollar gain against its major counterparts, last rising 0.9% on sterling to trade at 79.91p, and increasing 0.59% against the euro to 91.6 euro cents.

The greenback inched up 0.17% on the yen, meanwhile, to change hands at JPY 134.57.

“US markets slipped back even as we got further confirmation of slowing inflationary pressure,” said CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson.

“US PPI for April saw a further slowdown to 2.3% down from 2.7% while core prices also slowed to 3.2%.

“This has added to the prevailing narrative that pressure on prices is continuing to subside, although weekly jobless claims edged higher to 264,000, even as continuing claims slowed to just over 1.8 million.”

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rise, Bank of England hikes rates

On the economic front, the US Labor Department reported an unexpected rise in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week.

Initial jobless claims increased by 22,000 to 264,000, surpassing expectations of 245,000 and reaching the highest level since 30 October 2021.

The four-week moving average - a somewhat more reliable indicator - rose by 6,000 to 245,250, marking the highest level since 20 November 2021.

“While the April jobs data surprised to the strong side, the latest jobless claims data are consistent with loosening labour market conditions,” noted analysts at Oxford Economics.

“It's just one week of data, but the increase in claims last week pushed the four-week moving average for claims to the highest level since November 2021.

“Evidence of cooling demand for labour will allow the FOMC to refrain from raising rates at the June meeting.”

Elsewhere, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that US producer prices grew at their slowest pace since January 2021 in April.

The producer price index for final demand increased 2.3% year-on-year, while the month-on-month index rose 0.2%.

Core wholesale inflation, excluding volatile food and energy prices, increased by 0.2% from March and 3.2% year-on-year in April.

In the UK, the Bank of England raised interest rates to 4.5% - the highest level since 2008 - in an attempt to curb persistently high inflation.

The 25-basis point increase marked the 12th consecutive rate hike by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) since December 2021.

In its decision, the MPC hinted at another potential hike, with its projections based on a market-implied path for Bank Rate peaking at around 4.75% in the fourth quarter of 2023.

UK inflation currently stood at 10.1% - the highest among G7 economies.

Finally on data, China's consumer inflation in April dropped to its lowest rate in more than two years, while producer price deflation deepened.

The National Bureau of Statistics reported a year-on-year increase of 0.1% in the consumer price index (CPI), down from 0.7% in March, marking the lowest rate since February 2021.

Disney falls on quarterly figures, Robinhood Markets jumps

In equities, Walt Disney saw a significant decline of 8.73% after its second-quarter results exposed a drop in subscriber numbers.

“One of the biggest gripes investors have had with the company is the fact its Disney+ streaming platform has been losing large amounts of money,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“News that the platform reduced its operating losses from $1.1bn to $659m quarter-on-quarter should have been seen as significant progress towards its goal of making Disney+ profitable.”

However, Mould said the market seemed to have been fixated by the four million fewer subscribers reported by Disney.

“Given that most of the subscriber exits can be attributed to showing fewer Indian cricket matches, it hardly seems to be a disaster as it still has more than 231 million subscribers across its three platforms, which includes ESPN+ and Hulu."

Elsewhere, Beyond Meat also experienced a slump, with shares dropping 18.27% by the close.

The decrease for the meat substitute specialist came despite the company reporting better-than-expected sales for the most recent quarter, as well as improved revenue guidance.

On the upside, Robinhood Markets surged 6.39% after the retail trading platform outperformed first-quarter expectations, and announced plans to launch a new 24-hour, five-day stock trading service within the next week.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE -221.82 (-0.66%) 33,309.51

RISERS
Coca-Cola Company +0.57% $63.86
Boeing +0.5% $201.84
Walmart +0.37% $153.12
Procter & Gamble +0.23% $154.39
Apple +0.11% $173.75
Visa +0.08% $231.01
Verizon Communications -0.08% $37.60
3M -0.12% $100.78
Travelers Companies -0.19% $182.81
UnitedHealth Group -0.27% $488.76

FALLERS
Walt Disney Co -8.73% $92.31
Intel Corporation -3.7% $28.86
Dow Inc -2.08% $52.34
Caterpillar -1.47% $210.03
Walgreens Boots Alliance -1.33% $31.17
Honeywell International -1.19% $193.98
Nike -1.04% $122.22
International Business Machines -0.92% $120.90
Amgen -0.78% $232.29
Cisco Systems -0.73% $46.37

S&P 500 -7.02 (-0.17%) 4,130.62

RISERS
STERIS +9.83% $208.00
Tapestry +8.27% $40.21
Axon Enterprise +6.16% $204.60
Charles River Laboratories +5.07% $195.75
Tyson Foods +4.36% $49.34
Alphabet Class A +4.32% $116.57
Alphabet Class C +4.12% $116.90
Netflix +2.79% $344.76
Micron Technology +2.7% $61.61
Tesla Inc +2.1% $172.08

FALLERS
Walt Disney Co -8.73% $92.31
Comerica -6.76% $32.67
Warner Bros Discovery -5.06% $12.38
PerkinElmer -4.96% $118.37
Freeport-McMoRan -4.69% $34.54
Zions Bancorporation -4.51% $22.68
Monolithic Power Systems -4.18% $398.61
Wynn Resorts -4.13% $106.90
Newmont Corporation -4.04% $45.88
SLB -3.75% $44.14

NASDAQ COMPOSITE +22.07 (+0.18%) 12,328.51

RISERS
JD.com Inc +7.21% $37.63
PDD Holdings +7.05% $65.17
Sirius XM Holdings +5.85% $3.62
Baidu Inc +4.43% $124.17
Alphabet Class A +4.32% $116.57
Alphabet Class C +4.12% $116.90
Netflix +2.79% $344.76
Micron Technology +2.7% $61.61
Tesla Inc +2.1% $172.08
Amazon.com Inc +1.81% $112.18

FALLERS
Intel Corporation -3.7% $28.86
Align Technology -3.01% $296.08
Automatic Data Processing -2.42% $209.81
Qualcomm -2.25% $104.06
Match Group -2.04% $31.70
Paychex Inc -1.85% $106.61
Moderna -1.85% $128.41
Airbnb Inc -1.76% $111.20
Marvell Technology -1.73% $39.73
Skyworks Solutions -1.67% $96.91