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In the meantime, the hope is that a solid economy will fuel growth in profits for US companies, even if it means a delay to rate cuts.
Salesforce.com became one of the latest companies to report better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected on Wednesday evening. The customer-resource management software company also said it plans to begin paying a quarterly dividend to its investors, but it gave a forecast for revenue this upcoming year that was a bit below analysts’ expectations. Its stock climbed 3 per cent after flipping between gains and losses in the morning.
Hormel Foods led the S&P 500 with a 14.6 per cent leap after it reported stronger profit and revenue than expected. It cited broad-based growth across its brands, including Skippy peanut butter, Chi-Chi’s salsa and Corn Nuts snacks.
Nvidia climbed 1.9 per cent to recover losses from a back-to-back drop, a rare blip in what’s been a monster run amid Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Because it’s one of the biggest stocks on Wall Street, Nvidia was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.
C3.ai jumped 24.5 per cent after the software company reported a smaller loss than analysts expected and stronger revenue.
They helped offset a 5.4 per cent drop for Bath & Body Works. The seller of fragrances, body lotion and three-wick candles reported better profit than expected, helped by a strong holiday season, but it said sales may weaken this upcoming year.
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Even though it nearly doubled analysts’ fourth-quarter profit projections, the cloud-computing company Snowflake tumbled 18.1 per cent after a surprise announcement that CEO Frank Slootman was retiring effective immediately. Slootman will be replaced by Sridhar Ramaswamy.
Chemours tumbled 31.5 per cent after it put its CEO and two other top executives on administrative leave while the audit committee of its board conducts a review. The company said it needs more time to complete its year-end reporting process, and it delayed the release of its quarterly results, which was earlier planned for Wednesday.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.25 per cent from 4.27 per cent late Wednesday.
The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, dipped to 4.63 per cent from 4.65 per cent. It had been near 4.70 per cent shortly before the morning’s release of the inflation data.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.1 per cent after data showed factory output falling in January at the fastest pace since May 2020, though retail sales were stronger than expected.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.2 per cent, while stocks in Shanghai jumped 1.9 per cent. The smaller index in Shenzhen surged even more after regulators released new measures to support markets including closer oversight of financial derivatives.
AP
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