Investing.com — The S&P 500 eked out a gain Wednesday as rising Treasury yields and weakness in the industrial sector weighed, but a spike in Tesla allowed tech to extend gains ahead of another round of gains from the major technology companies.
At 4:00 PM ET (20:00 GMT), the gain was 0.02%, the gain was 0.1%, while the decline was 0.1%, or 42 points.
Tesla Leads Technology Higher as Magnificent Seven and Continues Profit Parade; TSM helps chips rise
Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:) rose 12%, recovering from a 15-month low earlier this week, after the electric vehicle maker said it was accelerating the launch of new EV models, including more affordable options, to the second half of 2025.
A low-cost EV model could mark the next step in growth for Tesla and also enable increased sales of its high-margin self-driving software.
The technology sector will continue to be in the spotlight on Wednesday as Facebook owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) is set to report earnings after the close, followed by tech giants Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) on Thursday.
In addition to the big tech sector, chip stocks were also on the rise after a nearly 6% surge in Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:) which rose on first-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates and optimistic second-quarter expectations.
The industrial sector is undermining the pressure from Boeing, UPS and Jetblue
Shares of Boeing (NYSE:) fell more than 2% after Mody’s Ratings downgraded Boeing’s credit rating from Baa2 to Baa3, a step above junk status.
The aircraft manufacturer posted an intraday gain of more than 4% after first-quarter sales exceeded expectations. Adding to negative sentiment about the planemaker, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Boeing must convince the Federal Aviation Administration to address quality control issues within the 90-day deadline before it can ramp up production of its 737 MAX jets.
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United Package Service Inc (NYSE:), meanwhile, also caused the industrial sector to fall after the courier company reported mixed first-quarter results, while earnings were better but revenue fell short of expectations after a 3.2 decline in shipping volumes %.
JetBlue Airways Corp (NASDAQ:) came off the day’s low, but still dragged other airline shares lower after falling 3% on concerns about slowing growth after the airline posted a steeper-than-expected revenue decline for the second quarter had predicted.
Uber (NYSE:), down 2%, also weighed on the industrial sector on concerns about increasing competition after Tesla announced its plans to enter ride-hailing.
Humana drops despite its first quarter profit, Hasbro shines on the profit podium
Humana Inc (NYSE:) fell more than 3% despite the health insurer beating first-quarter earnings estimates.
Hasbro (NASDAQ:) gained nearly 12% after the toy maker reported a smaller-than-expected decline in first-quarter sales, handily beating profit expectations.
Energy stocks are rising again as the oil price decline continues
Energy stocks closed just above the flat as gains were kept in check by weaker oil prices, even as data showed a surprise in U.S. inventories.
inventories fell by 6.4 million barrels in the week ended April 19, clouding expectations for a 1.6 million barrel increase.
(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
