S&P 500 Pulls Back As Amazon And Alphabet Test New Lows

Key Insights

• The strong JOLTs Job Openings report put pressure on stocks. 
• Amazon and Alphabet tested new lows, pushing S&P 500 towards the 3850 level. 
• AMD is up by about 2% in the post-market session despite missing analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue. 

Stocks Move Lower As Traders Prepare For Key Fed Decision

S&P 500 remained under pressure today as JOLTs Job Openings report exceeded expectations. Strong job market data is bearish for stocks as hopes for a less hawkish Fed fade.

In addition, it looks that traders wanted to take some profits off the table ahead of the Fed Interest Rate Decision, which will be released tomorrow.

The sell-off in Amazon and Alphabet shares put significant pressure on the S&P 500 today and pushed Nasdaq Composite towards the 10900 level. Meta managed to rebound from multi-year lows, but it remains to be seen whether the stock will be able to gain sustainable upside momentum in the upcoming trading sessions.

Meanwhile, energy and basic materials stocks moved higher amid a broad rebound in commodity markets. The leading copper producer Freeport-McMoran gained about 4%, while the oil services company Baker Hughes was up by more than 3%.

In the post-market session, traders will likely focus on AMD results. The company reported revenue of $5.57 billion and earnings of $0.67 per share, missing analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue. In the fourth quarter, AMD expects to report revenue of $5.2 billion – $5.8 billion. While the revenue target for the next quarter implies no growth, the stock managed to gain upside momentum in the post-market session and moved above the $61 level.

Electronic Arts stock declined by 2% in the post-market session after the company released its quarterly report, which indicated that net bookings for the trailing twelve months was $7.4 billion, up by 4% on a year-over-year basis. The company noted that it expected a negative FX impact of about $200 million due to the strong U.S. dollar.

S&P 500 Faced Strong Resistance Near 3915

S&P 500 did not manage to settle above the resistance at 3915 and pulled back towards the 3860 level. The resistance at 3915 has been tested several times in recent trading sessions and proved its strength. In case S&P 500 manages to settle above this level, it will gain strong upside momentum and move towards the next resistance at 3960. A move above this level will open the way to the test of the resistance at 4000.

On the support side, S&P 500 needs to settle below the support near the 50 EMA at 3835 to continue its pullback. The next support level is located at 3805. If S&P 500 gets below this level, it will move towards the next support at 3760.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.