S&P 500 Record; Dow Rises; Nasdaq Falls; Dollar Rises; Tesla, Nvidia, Opendoor and More Movers
The Nasdaq Composite snapped its six-day streak of record closing highs amid a wave of AI stock selling, but the S&P 500 carried the torch by building on yesterday’s milestone.
The tech-heavy index fell 0.4% to snap a streak of closing highs a week after it began, but the S&P 500 rose to a fresh closing high with a gain of 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 179 points, or 0.4%, to move about 500 points away from its Dec. 4 record of 45,014.04.
Smallcap stocks also posted strong gains in the rally.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury note dropped to 3.83%. The 10-year yield was down to 4.34%.
Pretty much everything rose on Tuesday except tech—including high-flying AI names such as Nvidia, Broadcom, and Palantir—and specific stocks that reported quarterly results like Phillip Morris and Lockheed Martin.
“There are a ton of unwinds across the market with YTD laggards outperforming gainers by a wide margin,” writes Mizuho’s Daniel O’Regan. “However, given the lack of volume, it feels very quant, CTA and retail driven.”
He points to strong gains for healthcare stocks, which had been big laggards this year, while chip stocks, one of the big winners this year, struggled.
Two standouts among the so-called Magnificent Seven were Tesla and Alphabet, which closed higher ahead of their quarterly earnings reports tomorrow afternoon. Apple also bucked the trend, but the rest of the Mag 7 were a big drag on the S&P.
Big market cap declines for such stocks, along with Broadcom, can explain why the S&P barely eked out a gain despite the vast majority of stocks and sectors posting gains.
