Major U.S. equity indexes experienced a dip on Wednesday afternoon following the release of the Federal Reserve's minutes from its recent rate-setting meeting. The Federal Reserve officials' concern over continuous inflation has brought timing of potential interest rate cuts into question. Consequently, the S&P 500 concluded the day 0.3% down, the Dow fell 0.5%, and Nasdaq was down by 0.2%.
The stubborn and lower trends in discretionary spending impacted Target (TGT) significantly, leading to an 8.0% drop in its shares after it reported a decrease in its quarterly revenue year over year. Despite highlighting its digital business growth, the company's comparable store sales decreased compared to last year and its revenue guidance for both the current quarter and full year fell short of expectations.
Lululemon Athletica (LULU) shares also suffered a 7.2% loss following the announcement of changes in its product development team. Chief Product Officer Sun Choe will be leaving the company later in May. Furthermore, the company faced a downgrade to "underperform" from an analyst at Jefferies due to heavy competition, changing customer preferences, and restrained consumer spending.
Copper prices also saw a decline, leading to a 5.7% dip in the shares of major copper producer Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) as traders and investors decided to take profits after a rally that took the commodity to an all-time high earlier this week.
On the other hand, First Solar (FSLR) shares rose 18.7%, marking it the highest gainer in any S&P 500 stock for the second day in a row on Wednesday. This growth was backed by analysts at Piper Sandler and UBS increasing their price targets on the solar panel maker's stock. The rising demand for energy to power artificial intelligence (AI) applications could offer further growth opportunities.
Moderna's (MRNA) shares also saw a 13.7% boost following news of a child in Australia testing positive for avian influenza. The company currently has a vaccine in Phase 2 trials that protects against diseases in the same evolutionary family as bird flu, offering optimism for an adaptable vaccine to combat the new mutations.