US open: Stocks fall ahead of Nvidia Q3 earnings

(Sharecast News) - US stocks fell in early trade on Wednesday as investors eyed third-quarter results from tech giant Nvidia, and as geopolitical tensions with Russia rumbled on in the background. At 1510 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2%, the S&P 500 was 0.7% weaker and the Nasdaq 1% weaker.

Geopolitical risk has dampened market sentiment in recent days after Vladimir Putin warned the US that the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons has now been lowered following Joe Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to use US weapons to strike inside Russia.

Under the new doctrine, Russia will consider using nuclear weaponry if it, or its allies, were met with the use of "conventional weapons that created a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) their territorial integrity".

"The initial reaction to comments suggesting that the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons had lowered understandably sideswiped markets, with a move to haven assets such as gold and Treasury bonds, lowering yields as prices rose," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.

"More conciliatory remarks from a Russian official later soothed nerves, although the tension over recent days has risen, let alone any concerns over how the new administration in the US might react to the rhetoric."

The world's largest company, Nvidia, is expected to report impressive quarterly sales when the markets close on Wednesday, with a projected 83% increase in third-quarter revenue from the previous year. The stock has so far rocketed 194% this year, having jumped 16% since its second-quarter earnings release.

"Expectations are high as the company's shares have already surged 5% overnight. Trading in options suggests a potential swing of nearly $300bn in market value, which could lead to a potentially chaotic trading session ahead," said Patrick Munnelly, partner of market strategy at Tickmill Group.

In other corporate news, Target shares tanked more than 20% after the discount retail chain missed third-quarter profit forecasts by a wide margin and lowered its full-year guidance.

The company, which runs nearly 2,000 stores nationwide, said comparable sales were just 0.3% higher year-on-year in the three months to 2 November, with a 1.9% drop in in-store sales outweighed by a 10.8% increase online.

Total revenues were 1.1% higher at $25.7bn, missing the $25.9bn expected by the market.

Comcast was also in focus as it confirmed plans to spin off many of NBCUniversal's cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC and MSNBC, into a separate public company.

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $596.66 3.41% Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $97.82 1.33% Chevron Corp. (CVX) $160.90 0.81% Boeing Co. (BA) $146.33 0.50% American Express Co. (AXP) $286.35 0.28% Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $324.29 0.26% International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $210.70 0.21% Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $582.32 0.16% Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $382.91 0.15% Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $280.30 0.13%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Home Depot Inc. (HD) $400.64 -1.51% Intel Corp. (INTC) $23.86 -1.38% Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $413.79 -0.96% JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $240.92 -0.89% Nike Inc. (NKE) $73.32 -0.80% Walmart Inc. (WMT) $86.03 -0.66% Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $169.64 -0.66% Visa Inc. (V) $309.99 -0.60% Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $257.73 -0.60% McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $289.05 -0.58%

S&P 500 - Risers

Humana Inc. (HUM) $293.80 5.77% Keysight Technologies Inc. (KEYS) $159.61 4.92% Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $596.66 3.41% CVS Health Corp (CVS) $57.46 3.03% Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) $749.39 2.69% Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) $35.96 2.49% Nucor Corp. (NUE) $148.16 2.41% Centene Corp. (CNC) $59.13 2.28% Apache Corp. (APA) $22.36 2.01% Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $38.65 1.97%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Target Corp. (TGT) $121.39 -22.19% QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $157.67 -4.27% Delta Airlines Inc. (DAL) $62.06 -4.15% Dollar General Corp (DG) $73.34 -4.13% Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $62.37 -3.86% Under Armour, Inc. (UA) $8.27 -3.50% Under Armour Inc. Class A (UAA) $9.06 -3.46% Gap Inc. (GAP) $20.37 -3.00% Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $131.17 -2.84% Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $73.15 -2.25%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $65.08 3.73% Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $13.14 2.74% Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $13.22 2.40% NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $87.36 1.95% Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $25.56 1.55% Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $882.26 1.26% Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $388.71 1.01% Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $88.63 1.00% Incyte Corp. (INCY) $71.25 0.97% Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $84.89 0.96%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $157.67 -4.27% Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $62.37 -3.86% Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $131.17 -2.84% Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $73.15 -2.25% American Airlines Group (AAL) $14.07 -1.78% Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $64.14 -1.75% Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $651.00 -1.69% Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $201.45 -1.54% Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $144.92 -1.42% Intel Corp. (INTC) $23.86 -1.38%