Dow Sheds 435 Points as Wall Street Eyes Fed Minutes

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is 435 points lower this afternoon, on track for a third-straight loss. The Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are also swimming in red ink, after the hotter-than-expected consumer price index (CPI) for March crushed hopes of an interest rate cut in June. With the 10-year Treasury yield back above 4.5%, Wall Street is now eyeing the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes from last month, which will come out later this afternoon.

Continue reading for more on today's market, including:

• Nvidia stock nears correction territory.
• Bull note boosts heavily shorted Albemarle stock.
• Plus, AVTR puts pop; Infobird stock blasts off penny stock territory; and SGH brushes off bull notes.

Avantor Inc (NYSE:AVTR) is seeing unusual bearish options activity today, with 29,000 puts exchanged so far -- 10 times the intraday average volume -- compared to just 2,332 calls. The weekly 4/12 87-strike put is the most popular, but positions are also being bought to open at the April 85 put. Shares were last seen down 0.7% to trade at $25.69, but carry a 12% year-to-date lead and came just shy of a March 25, 52-week high of $26.14 in the previous session.

Shares of Infobird Co Ltd (NASDAQ:IFBD) are surging out penny stock territory today, pacing the Nasdaq. It's unclear what's driving today's optimism, but the security was last seen up 28.3% at $5.30. This rally is much smaller than the one in February, which took shares above the $54 region. Overhead pressure also lingers at the 100-day moving average.

Meanwhile, SMART Global Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SGH) is the worst stock on the tech-heavy benchmark, down 17.7% at $21.34 at last check. The equity is brushing off price-target hikes from both Needham and Stifel from $24 and $26 to $27 and $27.50, respectively. Shares earlier fell to their lowest level since February, but the 100-day moving average looks ready to contain those losses. SGH is up 11.9% in 2024.