The stock market held big gains in afternoon trading Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped the 30,000 level again, and the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 hit new highs. Top gainers in the Dow Jones today included UnitedHealth Group (UNH) and FAANG stock Apple (AAPL).
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UnitedHealth stock gapped up on strong guidance. Apple stock, meanwhile, gave a buy signal with a breakout over a trend line.
Several top stocks led the Nasdaq 100 higher, including Align Technology (ALGN), Facebook (FB) and Qualcomm (QCOM).
Align Technology gapped up in October after reporting earnings. It held gains smartly after that, a sign of strength and support. Now, the stock is in position for a breakout from a shelf pattern with a 507.15 entry.
Facebook stock jumped 4% to 288. It’s getting closer to a 297.48 cup-with-handle buy point. Semiconductor stocks outperformed again, including Qualcomm, which rose 3%. Its weekly chart has the look of an ascending base. Qualcomm announced a new chip Tuesday that will power high-end 5G Android phones next year.
U.S. Stock Market Today Overview |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | Symbol | Price | Gain/Loss | % Change |
| Dow Jones | (0DJIA) | 29913.80 | +275.16 | +0.93 |
| S&P 500 | (0S&P5) | 3669.27 | +47.64 | +1.32 |
| Nasdaq | (0NDQC ) | 12367.08 | +168.34 | +1.38 |
| Russell 2000 | (IWM) | 182.48 | +1.46 | +0.81 |
| IBD 50 | (FFTY) | 39.61 | +0.11 | +0.28 |
Last Update: 1:18 PM ET 12/1/2020 |
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Coronavirus-related stocks were notable decliners. Moderna (MRNA) reversed lower after popping more than 14% at the open. Shares are still up 15.5% so far this week after the company on Monday said its Covid-19 vaccine showed an overall efficacy rate of 94.1%. Other vaccine makers were down sharply, including CureVac (CVAC), Novavax (NVAX) and BioNTech (BNTX). Losses ranged from 8% to 10%.
Dow Jones Today
In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones was off highs after topping the 30,000 level again. The blue-chip index was up 0.9%, compared to a gain of 1.4% for the Nasdaq composite and 1.3% rise for the S&P 500. The Russell 2000 small-cap index rallied 0.7% and the Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.7%.
Salesforce.com (CRM) lagged in the Dow Jones, down around 1.5%. It reports earnings after the close today. Salesforce is also expected to confirm it’s buying Slack (WORK).
Outside of the Dow Jones, Veeva Systems (VEEV) also reports after the close today. It’s been one of the best performing stocks in recent years due to top fundamentals, but Veeva stock is still below its 10-week moving average as it consolidates gains. Veeva Systems is on the IBD Long-Term Leaders watchlist.
A flurry of other software earnings reports are due Wednesday after the close, including three strong performers in the security software group: CrowdStrike (CRWD), Okta (OKTA) and Zscaler (ZS). Reports are also due from Snowflake (SNOW) and Splunk (SPLK).
The S&P 500 suffered a mild distribution day Monday, falling 0.5% in higher volume, according to The Big Picture column. But the session really didn’t have the feel of institutional selling at all, especially since the S&P 500 closed near its high for the day. The Nasdaq also closed strongly, paring a 1.5% loss to less than 0.1%. Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.
Stock Market Movers
In other stock market news, a couple of former leaders showed bearish action in the Nasdaq 100. Zoom Video Communications (ZM) slumped 15% after reporting earnings, and DocuSign (DOCU) fell nearly 6% ahead of its earnings report Thursday after the close.
A couple of top-performing IPOs also fell hard.
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) dropped nearly 6% to 25.50. It was added to Leaderboard on Nov. 5 when it broke out of an IPO base. Snowflake gave back 5% to 308.48 ahead of its earnings report Wednesday after the close.
Among the best ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) rose 0.4%. Software stocks lagged, pushing the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) lower by 0.8%. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) popped 2%.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) was a top gainer in the IBD 50, along with Facebook, Big Lots (BIG), Teradyne (TER) and Lam Research (LRCX). Retailer Big Lots broke out over a trend line Tuesday as it approaches a 54.80 entry.
Follow Ken Shreve on Twitter @IBD_KShreve for more stock market analysis and insight.
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