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US stocks slid at the closing bell of the midweek session as investors shifted focus back to corporate earnings reports and away from dovish comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell about the future of US cash rate hikes amid slowing economic growth.

Lumen Technologies tanked more than 20% after reporting a fourth-quarter loss of US$3.1bn and provided guidance for the year that fell well short of Wall St expectations. Disney on the other hand reported results after the closing bell that topped analysts’ expectations including a loss of US$1.05bn which was less than Wall Street had predicted, earnings per share of 99 cps, well above the expected 78 cents per share, revenue of US$23.61bn and total Disney+ subscriptions of 161.1m which declined by around 2.4million on the back of a recent price increase. The Dow Jones fell 0.61%, the S&P500 tumbled 1.11%, and the Nasdaq lost 1.68% on Wednesday.

Over in Europe markets rallied on Wednesday following dovish comments from Fed chair Jerome Powell as well as investors digesting mixed corporate earnings reports. Jewellery company Pandora rose 12% on upbeat earnings results including quarterly sales hitting 9.9 billion Danish Crowns or $1.43 billion dollars, and annual sales around 26bn in 2022. The UK’s FTSE100 hit an intraday record high before paring back gains to close the day up 0.3%. In Germany, the DAX added 0.6% while the French CAC fell 0.18% on Wednesday.

What to watch today:

• Taking a look at commodities today, crude oil is trading 1.57% higher at US$78.35/barrel, gold is flat at US$1874/ounce and iron ore is trading down 0.8% at US$124.50/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar is buying US$0.69, 90.97 Japanese yen, 57.56 British pence, and NZ$1.10.
• Ahead of the local trading session the market is expected to open 0.42% lower following the sell-off on Wall St overnight.
• On the economic data front today, there is no local economic data out today however investors will be awaiting the release of the RBA statement on Monetary Policy out tomorrow.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has increased the price target on Microba Life Sciences (ASX:MAP) from $0.40 to $0.60 following the execution of an exclusive distribution agreement with Luminary Health Centres to distribute a microbiome test powered by Microba’s testing technology, to consumers in the US. Bell Potter sees the deal has locked in revenue for the next 12-months and is the driver of the price target increase for Microba.
• Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 36-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $2.05 to the range of $2.15-$2.19 according to standard principles of technical analysis.