US OPEN: Wall Street little changed ahead of second day of Powell testimony

• US indices launched today's cash trading in mixed moods

• ADP well above expectations

• Second day of Powell's testimony

• Tesla (TSLA.US) stock downgraded by Berenberg

• Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US) stock rises as Buffet boosts its stake

Three major Wall Street indices are trading mixed on Wednesday as traders digested better than expected ADP data and brace themselves for the second day of Fed Powell's testimony to Congress later in the day. Private businesses in the US unexpectedly created 242K jobs in February, well above an upwardly revised 119K in January and market forecasts of 200K, which reinforced bets of a higher-for-longer outlook for interest rates.

S&P 500 index stocks categorized by sectors and industries. Size represents market cap. Source: xStation5

US2000 pulled back sharply last week as buyers failed to break above resistance at 1960 pts, which coincides with 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the downward wave launched in November 2021. Today index broke below local support at 1890 pts and if current sentiment prevails, downward move may deepen towards next key support at 1840 pts, which is marked with 23.6% retracement and 200 SMA (red line). Source: xStation5

Company news:

Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US) stock rose 3% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB.US) bought additional 5.8 million shares, according to a regulatory filing disclosed late Tuesday.

Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US) stock started today's session higher around major resistance at $61.00, which coincides with 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the  upward wave started in March 2020. On the other hand, the medium-term 50-day SMA (green line) crossed below the long-term 200-day SMA (red line). This formed a bearish ‘death cross’ formation, which can at times precede a move lower. In this case nearest support to watch can be found around $56.90. Source: xStation5

Tesla (TSLA.US) stock dropped over 1% in premarket  after Berenberg downgraded EV maker to hold from buy, while fresh figures revealed that China's passenger vehicle sales dropped 20% during January - February period. 

Campbell Soup Co (CPB.US) stock rose 0.7% in premarket after the food processing company lifted its annual revenue outlook on Wednesday as it expects higher prices, improved supply and strong demand for its products.

CrowdStrike (CRWD.US) stock rose over 6.0% before the opening bell after  the cybersecurity company posted upbeat financial results for Q4. CrowdStrike earned 47 cents per share on $637 million of revenue, while Wall Street expected earnings of 43 cents on $625 million in revenue.