US: Target falters on mixed day for stocks

WALL Street stocks were mixed at the end of a choppy session on Wednesday (Oct 20) as investors awaited Nvidia earnings and sold off Target after weak results.

One day after Walmart impressed investors with a bullish report ahead of the holiday shopping season, Target lost more than one-fifth of its market value as the retailer projected flat comparable sales in the coming quarter.

Target “encountered some unique challenges and cost pressures,” acknowledged CEO Brian Cornell, adding that he remained “confident in the underlying strength and fundamentals of our business”.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.3 per cent at 43,408.47.

The broad-based S&P 500 was unchanged at 5,917.11, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 18,966.14.

Investors have been monitoring the brittle state of the Russia-Ukraine conflict after Moscow loosened its rules on using nuclear arms following Ukraine firing long-range US missiles at its territory for the first time.

US investors have also been fixated on earnings from artificial intelligence star Nvidia due late Wednesday.

Shares of Nvidia dropped 0.8 per cent during the session and another 2.9 per cent after the company reported US$19 billion in profits, easily topping estimates.

Elsewhere, Comcast rose 1.6 per cent after announcing plans to pool together cable network channels including CNBC and MSNBC in a spinoff, further denting the conventional cable news business.

Ford fell 2.9 per cent as it announced it was cutting 4,000 jobs in Europe, mostly in Germany and Britain. Executives also signalled they expect the incoming Trump administration to shift course on energy and climate policy, likely slowing the ramp-up of electric vehicle production. AFP