US stock markets opened Wednesday lower. Sentiment is being weighed down by rising market interest rates and higher oil prices.
The broad S&P 500 index was down 0.3 percent at 3:48 p.m. to 7,739.44.
Technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5 percent to 27,101.90.
By sector, energy posted the best performance, up 1.38 percent, while utilities recorded the weakest performance, down 1.54 percent.
Fast-food giant McDonald’s presented new financial targets as part of its NEXT strategy and is targeting an operating margin in the lower to mid-50 percent range by 2030. The company expects annual base investments of approximately USD 3 billion in 2027–2030 and additional support totaling USD 1.5–2 billion to accelerate the rollout of NEXT. The stock fell 4.7 percent.
Food producer General Mills reported revenue of USD 4.39 billion in the first quarter, in line with expectations, while adjusted earnings per share of USD 0.75 were better than expected. Organic sales were unchanged and the company repeats its full-year outlook. The stock fell 2.2 percent.
Chinese authorities are investigating the use of Broadcom’s networking equipment in state-controlled data centers as part of an effort to increase the use of domestic technology, the Financial Times reports, citing sources. The stock fell 1.7 percent.
Financial conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway has bought nearly 2.7 million Class A shares in US homebuilder Lennar and now owns 23.7 million shares worth approximately USD 1.8 billion, equivalent to nearly 10 percent of the company. Lennar shares, which rose 6.4 percent on Tuesday, fell 0.3 percent.
Investor Michael Burry has increased his short positions in Micron Technology, Nebius Group, the iShares Semiconductor ETF semiconductor fund and Palantir Technologies, according to Seeking Alpha. Burry is questioning the sustainability of the semiconductor and AI boom and points, among other things, to increased supplies of memory chips. Among the aforementioned stocks, Micron was down 0.7 percent
Football club Manchester United fell 2.7 percent. The company reported record revenue of GBP 678 million for the 2025/2026 financial year. Adjusted EBITDA increased to GBP 216 million. Revenue of GBP 740 million and adjusted EBITDA of GBP 205–225 million are forecast for the current year.
On the analyst front, Stifel upgraded Microsoft to buy from hold. The stock rose 0.4 percent.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note rose 8 basis points to 5.04 percent.
Brent crude rose 2.20 percent to USD 101.43 and WTI crude increased 1.62 percent to USD 91.99.
IndexPriceChange todayChange this yearS&P 5007,739.44-0.32%13.06%Nasdaq Composite27,101.90-0.52%16.61%Consumer discretionary1,843.35-1.24%-4.41%Consumer staples920.18-0.30%6.39%Energy958.781.38%39.49%Financials913.150.12%0.17%Health care1,980.94-0.08%9.69%Industrials1,444.490.19%10.00%Materials633.25-1.01%10.24%Real estate270.51-0.71%6.07%IT7,271.61-0.32%27.93%Utilities405.56-1.54%-6.51%Telecom475.41-0.88%5.09%Source: Factset
