Stock Market Today: Stocks Close Mixed Ahead of Jackson Hole

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published 18 August 2023

More concerning headlines out of China pressured stocks early Friday, though the major indexes managed to climb off their session lows as Treasury yields retreated from recent highs. Next week brings a key Federal Reserve event – one that sent the markets into a tailspin last year.

Amid quiet economic and earnings calendars here at home, investors' attention turned to China. That's because Evergrande, the country's second-largest developer, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection late Thursday. Chapter 15 allows foreign companies with domestic assets to get protection from creditors via U.S. courts.

Evergrande's filing for bankruptcy protection is "fueling concerns for a domino effect of other troubled developers, and the response by China for relief has been found lacking so far, putting pressure on companies with major sales in China," such as Apple (AAPL, +0.3) and Tesla (TSLA, -1.7%), says Louis Navellier, chairman and founder of Navellier & Associates.

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The bankruptcy buzz rattled several U.S.-listed Chinese stocks today. Electric vehicle stock Nio (NIO) was one of the biggest decliners, slumping 7.2%. E-commerce company JD.com (JD, -4.8%) and online gaming platform Bilibili (BILI, -6.4%) also sank.

Deere slides despite earnings beat

In single-stock news, Deere & Co. (DE) slid 5.3% after the farm equipment maker reported fiscal third-quarter earnings. The company disclosed higher-than-expected earnings of $10.20 per share on $15.8 billion in revenue. Based on its full-year guidance, though, fourth-quarter earnings are expected to arrive at "a more muted" $7.45 per share vs estimates for earnings of $7.50 per share, says Oppenheimer analyst Kristen Owen.

As for the major indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.07% higher at 34,500, while the S&P 500 posted a marginal loss to end at 4,369 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.2% to 13,290. All three benchmarks finished lower on the week.

Fed's Jackson Hole symposium on deck

Looking ahead, next week brings the Federal Reserve's annual Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. "While Powell will likely refrain from giving any explicit guidance, we'll be watching what he says about the recent bond market rout, the surprisingly strong economic data, the Fed's 2% inflation target and any thoughts about the neutral policy rate," says Larry Adam, chief investment officer at Raymond James.

The three-day event kicks off on Thursday, August 24, and has the potential to spark volatility in the equities and bond markets. Last year, for instance, a hawkish speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell sent stocks plummeting across the board.

With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.