Stock market today: Live updates

Japan will not intervene in the currency market unless the yen weakens beyond 155 against the U.S. dollar, according to Hiroshi Watanabe, Japan’s top currency diplomat from 2004 to 2007.

Reuters reported that Watanabe said the chance of intervention was slim for now, since the yen’s declines have been within a broad range unlike in 2022, when the currency was falling more sharply.

He added that while markets are monitoring the 152 level against the greenback, Japanese authorities likely won’t see any break above that level alone as a strong enough reason to intervene.

The yen last traded at 151.68 against the dollar.

Chinese authorities had “nudged” Swiss agrichemicals and seeds group Syngenta to withdraw its application for a $9 billion IPO, according to a Reuters report.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters said that this was due to concerns about the impact a sizeable new offering would have on a volatile market.

“The planned flotation finally came unstuck after Syngenta, owned by Sinochem, in March received informal instructions from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to pull its bid for the mega listing,” the report said.

Last May, Sygenta filed its application to list in Shanghai and raise 65 billion yuan ($8.98 billion), with its executives saying as recently as November that it planned to list in 2024.

The company announced last week that it was withdrawing its bid to list, “after careful consideration of industry environment and the company’s own development strategy.”

— Lim Hui Jie, Reuters

The surge in the energy sector – now up nearly 16% in 2024 – comes as crude oil futures touch their highest levels since last October, rising amid geopolitical tensions and OPEC+ policy.

As the major averages struggle to maintain their first quarter momentum, the energy sector is the leader within the S&P 500, up 2.84% in the second quarter.

–Darla Mercado, Gina Francolla

Prices for gold, Japanese stocks and U.S. stocks are all reaching “escape velocity,” according to Larry Jeddeloh of TIS Group and The Institutional Strategist newsletter.

With gold at all-time highs (at least nominally), “there is no overhead resistance left,” Jeddeloh wrote Wednesday. “[C]entral banks all over the world have become heavy buyers of gold…the interest of central banks in holding alternatives to sovereign bonds already exists and it will grow,” leaving gold “in orbit.” The short-term target for gold may be $2,440-$2,490 an ounce, and $3,000 long term, he wrote.

Similarly, the Nikkei 225 index of Japanese stocks “has broken out to an all-time high and if I apply a measured move analysis to the chart, the long-term target is about 71,000,” the strategist wrote. “[I]n time and price this market could go a long way,” partly because Japanese stocks are underowned by so many domestic and international investors.

Finally, the S&P 500 has also “hit escape velocity,” wrote Jeddeloh, who earlier in his career was chief investment strategist at UBS in Zurich. “This is another big cap, liquid market which is on all-time highs, there is no overhead resistance, there is earnings growth, GDP growth, a central bank which is limited in what it can do with interest rate rises, but has a lot of incentive to cut rates. Like Japan, foreign investors do not own enough of SPX,” he wrote. At the same time, “U.S. companies operate global franchises, are technology leaders and next-gen technologies are liquid and have name recognition.”

— Scott Schnipper

Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading.

Levi Strauss & Co — Shares jumped 8% after the company posted an earnings and revenue beat in the first quarter. The apparel company reported adjusted earnings of 26 cents per share on $1.56 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected 21 cents earnings per share on $1.55 billion in revenue. Levi’s also raised its full-year profit guidance.

Blackberry — The cybersecurity stock jumped 7.8% after the company announced better-than-expected quarterly results. BlackBerry reported losses of 3 cents per share, versus consensus estimates of 4 cents losses per share, according to StreetAccount. Revenue came in at $173 million, beating forecasts of 150.5 million.

Simulations Plus — The small cap stock gained more than 7% after releasing its fiscal second-quarter results. The company, which develops software for pharmaceutical drug discovery, topped quarterly estimates on both top and bottom lines. Management also reaffirmed its full-year guidance that came above estimates.

— Hakyung Kim

U.S. stock futures traded near the flatline Wednesday night.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures inched up just 4 points, or 0.01%.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 ticked up 0.04% and 0.05%, respectively.

— Hakyung Kim