Nasdaq Down 2%; US Crude Stocks Increase

Wall Street is on track for its third consecutive day of losses as investors grow cautious about risky assets, awaiting more clarity on U.S. fiscal and monetary policies and scrutinizing the latest batch of corporate earnings.

Both equities and commodities took a hit on Wednesday, while the U.S. dollar gained strength, attracting investor flows as traders moved to safer cash positions.

The U.S. dollar index, as tracked by the the Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF , rose 0.5%, reaching levels last seen in late July.

At midday in New York, the S&P 500 was down 0.7%, attempting to hold support around the 5,800-point level. The Dow Jones also dropped 0.7%, and tech stocks, along with small caps, fared worse, sliding by 0.9%.

On the data front, mortgage applications declined for the fourth straight week, reflecting continued pressure from elevated borrowing costs.

Existing home sales fell by 1% in September to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 3.84 million, the lowest level since October 2010. This follows an upwardly revised 3.88 million in August and missed forecasts of 3.9 million.

Despite weak housing data, real estate stocks showed surprising resilience. The Vanguard Real Estate ETF and the SPDR Homebuilders ETF moved higher after two straight sessions of losses.

Gold prices, as tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust , fell more than 1%, pulling mining stocks down with it. Silver plummeted over 3%, retreating from 12-year highs reached on Tuesday.

Oil prices slipped by 1%, while Bitcoin tumbled 2%.

Wednesday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust fell 0.6% to $579.72.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average inched 0.7% lower to $426.41.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series fell 1% to $491.16.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF fell 0.7% $219.80.
• The Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund outperformed, up 0.6%. The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund lagged, down 1%.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

• Boeing Co. fell 2.4% after reporting a worse-than-expected losses last quarter.

Other stocks reacting to earnings included:

• Texas Instruments Inc. , up 3.5%.
• Baker Hughes Co. , up 3.9%.
• Seagate Technology Holdings PLC , down over 7%.
• Packaging Corporation of America , up over 6%.
• Manhattan Associates Inc. , down over 7%.
• East West Bancorp. Inc. , up over 7%.
• Enphase Energy Inc. , down over 13%.
• Coca-Cola Co. , down 2.2%.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. , down 2.9%.
• NextEra Energy Inc. , down 0.1%.
• AT&T Inc. , up 3.8%.
• Boston Scientific Corp. , down 3.7%.
• CME Group Inc. , down 0.9%.
• GE Vernova Inc. , down 1.6%.
• Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. , down 2.6%.
• Vertiv Holdings LLC , down 2.8%.
• Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. , down 4.8%.

Large-cap companies reporting earnings after the close include Tesla Inc. , T-Mobile US Inc. , International Business Machines Corp. , ServiceNow Inc. , Lam Research Corp. , Newmont Corp. , United Rentals Inc. , Las Vegas Sands Corp. , Raymond James Financial Inc. .

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US equity indexes fell intraday Wednesday amid continued gains in government bond yields as concern mounted that inflation could heat up after the fiscally expansionary presidential elections.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 5,787.2, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.8% to 42,473.4 and the Nasdaq Composite 1.8% lower at 18,247.8. All sectors were in the red intraday except utilities and real estate.

Tesla (TSLA), IBM (IBM), United Parcel Service (UPS), and Colgate Palmolive (CL) are among the mega-caps reporting quarterly results this week.

The US presidential election remains too close to call less than two weeks before polls, and inflation is the chief concern from the policy agendas of Republicans and Democrats.

While the US presidential election remains a "coin flip," the updated scenarios from Oxford Economics suggest that "upside risks to its baseline forecast of growth and inflation during the next presidential term are larger than originally estimated."

Most US Treasury yields rose intraday, with the 10-year yield up 4.4 basis points to 4.25%, its highest since late July. The two-year yield advanced 4.3 basis points to 4.08%, its strongest since mid-August. The probability of the Federal Reserve leaving its interest rate unchanged at the Nov. 7 policy meeting rose to 11% from 7.5% a day ago, according to the FedWatch Tool. It compares with a zero likelihood of a Fed pause a month ago. The dominant probability, 89%, is for a 25 basis point cut.

Doubts that the Fed will turn less dovish than investors had expected lifted Treasury yields, and investors awaited another set of earnings to assess the state of the US economy, a note from D.A. Davidson said.

Gold fell 1% to $2,733.11 an ounce after touching a new record high of $2,772.6 earlier in the session. Silver slumped 3.5% to $33.82. Both precious metals touched fresh intraday highs in the first two days of this week.

In economic news, the pace of US existing-home sales fell 1% to a 3.84 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in September from 3.88 million in August, data from the National Association of Realtors released Wednesday showed. The average forecast was 3.88 million in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Total sales dropped 3.5% from a year earlier.

In company news, Enphase Energy shares sank more than 15% intraday, the worst performer on the S&P 500, following a year-over-year slump in its Q3 non-GAAP earnings and revenue.

CoStar Group reported a decline in Q3 non-GAAP earnings, and the increase in its sales fell short of expectations. The company also cut its full-year revenue guidance range, missing forecasts. Shares slumped over 6% intraday, the steepest decliner on the Nasdaq.

McDonald's shares dropped 5.2% intraday, the biggest laggard on the Dow, after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday an E. coli outbreak in 10 states is related to the company's Quarter Pounder burgers.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 1.6% to $70.59 a barrel.

US commercial crude oil stocks, excluding inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rebounded by 5.5 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 18, following a 2.2-million-barrel decline in the previous week and a 1-million-barrel increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.