After a strong start to the week, stocks struggled for direction on Wednesday until a mid-afternoon surge gave the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 another weekly win. The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.1% higher at 15,712, while the S&P 500 gained 0.02% to 5,071. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% to 38,460, breaking its four-day winning streak.
Tesla (TSLA) surged 12.1% after promising an accelerated launch of its lower-cost vehicle, offsetting a top- and bottom-line miss. Analyst Daniel Ives of Wedbush maintained an Outperform (Buy) rating on the stock, saying that CEO Elon Musk “laid the foundation for Tesla’s growth strategy with most importantly a lower-cost vehicle now slated for 2025 production and delivery.”
Texas Instruments (TXN) rose 5.6% following better-than-expected Q1 earnings, while Humana (HUM) dropped 3.7% after disappointing full-year guidance.
Boeing (BA) also released earnings, disclosing a first-quarter per-share loss of $1.13 on $16.6 billion in revenue. While both figures exceeded analysts’ expectations, the company burned through $4 billion in cash over the three-month period. CEO Dave Calhoun acknowledged the challenges, stating that “safety and quality must and will come above all else.”
Ahead of Meta Platforms’ (META) earnings release after Wednesday’s close, lawmakers passed a foreign aid bill that includes a potential TikTok ban. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has up to one year to divest the app or face a ban from U.S. app stores. Lead equity analyst Sophie Lund-Yates of Hargreaves Lansdown expressed concerns about China’s potential misuse of American user data but believes the impact on other social media platforms is limited. However, she noted that Meta will be closely monitoring the situation.
