Wall Street today: US stocks drop amid geopolitical tensions, Nvidia earnings in focus, Target tanks 20%

US stocks dropped on Wednesday amid escalating geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and as investors awaited chip giant Nvidia's quarterly results.

At 09:53 am the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.09 points to 43,270.03, the S&P 500 lost 20.79 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 5,896.19 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 94.90 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 18,892.57.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 27.1 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 43,296.05. The S&P 500 fell 2.6 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 5,914.34, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 16.2 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 18,971.311.

Nvidia will release its results for the third quarter after the trading is over. Its stock was down 1.2 per cent.

Among other megacap stocks, Tesla lost 1.3 per cent and Amazon.com shed 1.4 per cent.

US retailer Target tumbled 19.6 per cent after reporting weaker quarterly profit and revenue.

Home retailer Williams-Sonoma jumped 23.3 per cent after the company delivered better profit and revenue for the third quarter.

In the bond market, the 10-year yield edged up to 4.42 per cent from 4.40 per cent late on Tuesday.

Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin climbed to a record high for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, after MicroStrategy Inc announced massive purchase of the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin rose as much as 2.6 per cent to $94,668, and is up around 40 per cent since Donald Trump won the US presidential election.

Bullion

Gold prices eased on Wednesday as the US dollar strengthened.

Spot gold was down 0.2 per cent at $2,627.60 per ounce as of 1238 GMT. US gold futures were steady at $2,631.30.

Spot silver fell 1 per cent to $30.89 an ounce.

Crude oil

Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday as concerns about escalating hostilities in the Ukraine war potentially disrupting oil supply from Russia outweighed data showing rising US crude stocks.

Brent crude futures for January were up 49 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to $73.80 a barrel at 1313 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for December, due to expire on Wednesday, were up 71 cents, or 1 per cent, to $70.10, while the more active WTI contract for January was up 56 cents, or 0.8 per cent, at $69.80.