STOCK MARKET NEWS: Fed minutes, Intel slashes dividend, Citigroup on recession

Intel Corp said on Wednesday it would lower its quarterly dividend as a part of its strategy to improve capital amid uncertain times.

The company had in January warned it would lose money in the first quarter as two of its most important markets — personal computers and data centers — were weakening after two years of strong growth during the pandemic-led remote work.

Intel has committed to reduce $3 billion in costs this year and between $8 and $10 billion in savings by the end of 2025.

The company, which reaffirmed its first-quarter forecast issued in January, said it will cut the quarterly dividend to $0.125 per share, or 50 cents annually.The dividend will be payable on June 1 to stockholders of record on May 7.

The U.S. stock indexes are rallying after suffering their worst sell-off day of the year on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are all in positive territory, with the tech-heavy index leading the rebound as tech shares like Meta, Google, Amazon and Microsoft all start the session in the green.

In commodities, oil is off approximately 1% to $75.60 a barrel as gold moves roughly 0.16% higher to $1,845.40 an ounce. 

Walmart customers continue to wrestle with high food inflation which is showing little signs of abating.

A looming winter storm is already wreaking havoc across the nation with thousands of flights cancelled.

Starbucks is rolling out a new line of drinks called Oleato with two key ingredients.

Citigroup is less pessimistic on the U.S. economy in a new updated forecast.