U.S. stock markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding for the third consecutive trading day.

The March ADP employment report further corroborated the strength of the U.S. economy.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that the Fed needs “more confidence in inflation easing before considering rate cuts.” The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta expects only one rate cut this year.

Chair Powell stated that inflation is not primarily driven by excessive demand; inflation expectations align with the 2% target, aiming to gradually return the inflation rate to 2%. The tightening of monetary policy is exerting pressure on demand.

Tom Lee, co-founder and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, expressed that with the continued slowdown in inflation, the Fed is still preparing for its first rate cut in June. Lee was among the few Wall Street bulls last year and accurately predicted the uptrend in U.S. stocks for 2023 towards the end of 2022.

U.S. Stocks

Fundamental Analysis: 

Technology stocks saw mixed results, with Dell Technologies surging over 8% to a record closing high, Meta rising nearly 2%, Tesla climbing more than 1%, and Apple, Google, and Amazon gaining less than 1%. Intel fell more than 8%.

Precious metals and raw materials led gains, with Gold Resources jumping over 26%, Coeur Mining over 10%, Pan American Silver more than 6%, Alcoa Corporation over 4%, and Southern Copper more than 3%.

Most Chinese concept stocks fell, with the NASDAQ Golden Dragon China Index down 0.13%. Li Auto and XPeng Motors dropped more than 2%, with JD.com, Bilibili, and iQIYI falling more than 1%.

NIO, Alibaba, Vipshop, Baidu, and NetEase slightly declined. Futu Holdings, Tencent Music, and Pinduoduo rose more than 1%, with Weibo making modest gains.

Technical Analysis: 

(S&P 500 Index, 1-day chart) 

Market Trends: 

• NASDAQ rose by 37.01 points, a 0.23% increase, closing at 16,277.46.
• The Dow fell by 43.10 points, a 0.11% decrease, closing at 39,127.14.
• The S&P 500 index gained 5.68 points, an increase of 0.11%, closing at 5,211.49.

Hong Kong Stock Market

The Hong Kong stock market will be closed for one day on April 4th due to the Qingming Festival holiday.

FTSE China A50 Index

The A-share market will be closed from April 4th to April 6th for the Qingming holiday, resuming normal trading on April 8th.