After US financial markets closed on Wed, Tesla (TSLA US, -4.96%) reported 1Q22 earnings that beat expectations. Tesla shares are up 5.52% in extended-hours trading. However, during the regular trading session, it was a mixed day on Wall Street, with Netflix (NFLX US, -35.12%) dragging the Nasdaq down.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 249.59 pts, or 0.71%, to close at 35,160.79. The S&P 500 index fell 0.06%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite retreated 1.22%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gained 0.37%. Investors dumped Netflix shares after it reported a shock loss in subscribers and a decision to run advertising after years of shunning it. The Wall Street Journal reported that the hedge fund of billionaire investor William Ackman sold its stake in the streaming service, implying a loss of about US$400m.
Mega cap tech stocks ended lower, including Apple (AAPL US, -0.10%), Amazon (AMZN US, -2.60%), Alphabet (GOOGL US, -1.51%), Nvidia (NVDA US, - 3.23%), and Meta Platforms (FB US, -7.77%). Microsoft (MSFT US, +0.37%) was an exception on Wed.
Netflix's share plunge weighed on other streaming and media companies such as Walt Disney (DIS US, -5.56%), Warner Bros Discovery (WBD US, -6.04%), and Paramount Global (PARAA US, -8.25%).
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped 10.4 basis points (bps) to 2.8320%, while the 2-year US treasury yield fell 1.62 bps to 2.5753%.
The front-month Brent futures closed down 45 cents at US$106.80/bbl while the front-month WTI futures rose 19 cents to US$102.75/bbl.
The ICE dollar index (DXY), which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.57% to 100.390.
The most actively traded US gold futures (Jun) contracts settled down $3.40, or 0.2%, at US$1,955.60/oz. May silver, which is the most actively traded silver futures, fell 12 cents, or 0.5%, to end at US$25.271/oz.
European equity markets finished higher on Wed. The UK FTSE gained 0.37%, France's CAC 40 rose 1.38%, while the German DAX advanced 1.47%.