US stocks mostly down on recession worries
Wall Street stocks finished mostly lower on Wednesday, shrugging off relatively solid corporate earnings amid recession worries, while First Republic Bank tanked again. While shares of some companies such as Microsoft and Chipotle Mexican Grill surged on their reports, two of the three major US indices ended the day lower. The Dow Jones dropped 0.7 percent to 33,301, while the S&P 500 declined 0.4 percent to 4,055. The Nasdaq advanced 0.5 percent to 11,854. First Republic suffered another pummeling, ending nearly 30 percent lower. "The concerns about a hard lending (or recession) are deepening and the concerns are largely focused on the banking industry," said Hugh Johnson of Hugh Johnson Economics. Among other big companies reporting results, Boeing shares gained 0.4 percent, while Google parent Alphabet slipped 0.2 percent and Texas Instruments shed 2.9 percent. Activision Blizzard plunged 11.5 percent after British officials blocked Microsoft's proposed US$69-billion takeover of the US video game company on antitrust grounds. Disney shed 1.4 percent after it sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, alleging his administration's takeover of its theme park district constituted retaliation over the company's opposition to a law barring discussion of homosexuality in schools. (AFP)