US open: Stocks mixed following Dow's big session

dl wall street wall st new york city new york stock exchange nyse dow jones nasdaq street sign nyc united states usa america pb — Sharecast / Alessandro D Andrea via Pixabay

Wall Street stocks mixed early on Wednesday following big gains for the blue-chip Dow Jones in the previous session.

As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.33% at 41,087.67, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.10% to 5,604.91 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 2.23% weaker at 18,096.74.

The Dow opened 133.19 points higher on Wednesday, extending solid gains recorded in the previous session as traders became more optimistic on interest rate cuts.

Tech darling Nvidia was lower in early trading on the back of news that the Biden administration was considering tougher trade restrictions if companies continue to give Chinese firms access to US-made semiconductor technology, while Taiwan Semiconductor shares were also in the red on the news, with comments from Donald Trump that Taiwan should be paying the US for defence also weighing on the stock.

Trump also said he would allow Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell to serve out his term if he thought "he was doing the right thing", presumably referring to the central bank cutting interest rates.

On the macro front, US mortgage applications surged 3.9% week-on-week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, erasing the prior two week's declines and marking the sharpest increase in a month. Applications to refinance a mortgage soared 15%, offsetting a 3% drop in applications to purchase a home.

Elsewhere, homebuilding activity in the US picked up last month, but the details of the report were not as strong as it might appear at first hand. According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms the number of housing starts grew at a month-on-month pace of 3.0% in June to reach an annual rate of 1.35m. In parallel, the number of permits issued for new home construction jumped by 3.4% over the month to reach 1.446m but those for single-family homes dropped by 2.3%.

Finally, industrial production in the States jumped in June, led by a surge in output from utilities.According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms industrial output was ahead by 0.6% month-on-month. Economists had pencilled in a rise of 0.3%. The degree of capacity in use increased by five-tenths of a percentage point in comparison to the month before to reach 78.8%

In terms of Q2 earnings, US Bancorp said adjusted profits had fallen 10% as higher deposit costs weighed on interest income, while Johnson & Johnson beat quarterly profit expectations but cut its outlook on increased M&A costs.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Intel Corp. (INTC) $35.74 4.08%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $566.52 3.22%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $154.57 2.36%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $11.87 1.19%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $220.26 1.13%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $159.48 1.08%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $41.82 0.89%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $168.32 0.82%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $64.71 0.68%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $258.36 0.43%