Stocks fell Wednesday as investors gauged whether the rally, fueled by bets on interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, would continue to the end of the year.
FedEx
reported weaker-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings and reduced its fiscal-year sales forecast.
FedEx
said it expects a “low-single-digit percentage decline” in sales for fiscal 2024, compared with a previous outlook that called for “approximately flat” sales growth. The company still expects to earn between $17 and $18.50 a share in fiscal 2024, the same guidance provided in September. Shares of the shipping giant fell 12%. Rival
United Parcel Service
was down 2.9%.
Alphabet
rose 1.2% following a report that said its Google unit plans to reorganize a large part of its advertising sales unit.
General Mills
reported fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.25 a share, topping Wall Street forecasts of $1.16, but the maker of Cheerios cereal said it expects organic sales in fiscal 2024 to be down 1% to flat from a year earlier, compared with previous guidance of growth of 3% to 4%. The stock declined 3.6%.
Toro
was down 2.9% after the maker of lawn mowers posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and sales that beat analysts’ estimates.
Aon
was down 6%. The professional services company agreed to acquire NFP, a middle market property and casualty broker, for about $13.4 billion in cash and stock.
Shares of home-improvement retailer
Lowe’s
were downgraded to Hold from Buy at
Stifel.
The price target was raised to $240 from $235. Lowe’s shares fell 1.5%.
Paramount Global
dropped 2%. Shares of Paramount, an entertainment company with a movie studio, television channels, and streaming services, were upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at
Wells Fargo
and the price target was raised to $18 from $15.
U.S.-listed shares of
Alibaba
fell 1.4%. Chief Executive Eddie Wu will take over as CEO of Taobao and Tmall Group, the company’s domestic e-commerce arm, in the latest shake-up at the Chinese tech company.
Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]
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