Major US stock indexes fell moderately, as reports that Washington could impose sanctions on other Chinese companies increased trading concerns, while the fall in Qualcomm (QCOM) and retailers also had a negative impact on investor sentiment.

According to Bloomberg, the White House is considering banning five more Chinese companies from doing business with US companies without a license. This followed Washington’s decision to temporarily ease some trade restrictions imposed on China’s Huawei Technologies last week.

The South China Morning Post said that the ongoing trade war, as well as the restrictions imposed on the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, forced China to rethink all its economic relations with the United States. Finance Minister Stephen Mnuchin told CNBC that a trip to Beijing to resume trade negotiations has not yet been scheduled. This weakened hopes for a speedy resolution of the US-Chinese trade war.

Qualcomm shares (QCOM) collapsed by 10.86% after a US judge ruled that the chip maker violated antitrust laws, illegally suppressing mobile phone competition.

Retailers also came under pressure after the publication of quarterly results of companies in the sector. Shares of Lowe’s (LOW) fell by almost 12%, as the company's profit did not meet forecasts. The value of Nordstrom (JWN) shares, meanwhile, fell by 9.25%, as both the profit and revenue were worse than expected.

Investors also drew attention to the minutes of the last Fed meeting. At the last Fed meeting on April 30 - May 1, many of the leaders noted that they consider the current weakness of inflation as a temporary phenomenon. However, some of them expressed concern about what would happen if price pressure continued to deceive expectations, remaining low. In general, the minutes of the Fed meeting indicate that the current waiting position on interest rates is comfortable for the leadership of the central bank.

Most of the DOW components recorded a decline (18 out of 30). Outsider were shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL; -2.11%). The growth leader was the shares of The Coca-Cola Company (KO; + 2.16%).

Almost all sectors of the S & P finished trading in the red. Growth was shown only by the utility sector (+ 0.6%) and the health sector (+ 0.6%). The largest decline was shown by the conglomerate sector (-1.7%).

At the time of closing:

Dow 25,776.61 -100.72 -0.39%

S & P 500 2,856.27  -8.09 -0.28%

Nasdaq 100 7,750.84  -34.88 -0.45%

U.S. stock-index futures fell on Wednesday, as increased trade worries and some disappointing earnings results from the retailers weighed on investor sentiment.

Global Stocks:

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

Tesla (TSLA) target lowered to $191 from $238 at Citigroup; rating maintained at Sell

Target Corp. (TGT) reported Q1 FY 2019 earnings of $1.53 per share (versus $1.32 in Q1 FY 2018), beating analysts’ consensus of $1.43.

The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to $17.627 bln (+5.0% y/y), generally in line with analysts’ consensus estimate of $17.490 bln.

The company also issued in-line guidance for Q2 and the full 2019 FY, projecting EPS of $1.52-1.72 (versus analysts' consensus estimate of $1.59) and $5.75-6.05 (versus analysts' consensus estimate of $5.84), respectively.

TGT rose to $76.80 (+6.73%) in pre-market trading.

Lowe's Companies (LOW) reported Q1 FY 2019 earnings of $1.22 per share (versus $1.19 in Q1 FY 2018), missing analysts’ consensus of $1.33.

The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to $17.741 bln (+2.2% y/y), generally in line with analysts’ consensus estimate of $17.645 bln.

The company also issued guidance for FY 2019, projecting EPS of $5.45-5.65 (versus analysts’ consensus estimate of $6.05 and its prior guidance of $6.00-6.10) and revenues of +~2% y/y to ~$72.7 bln (versus analysts’ consensus estimate of $72.46 bln).

LOW fell to $102.11 (-8.09%) in pre-market trading.