The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite were in rally mode again in the stock market today. After briefly touching the 5,000 level Thursday, the S&P 500 edged above the key level again in morning trade. Top gainers in the S&P 500 included Applied Materials (AMAT), up more than 2% ahead of next week’s earnings report.
X
The Dow Jones industrials were slightly lower nearly one hour into the session, but technology stocks like Intel (INTC), Salesforce (CRM), Microsoft (MSFT) and IBM (IBM) bucked the trend with gains of at least 0.6%. CRM stock recently hit the 20% profit-taking zone after gapping up over a 238.22 buy point in late November. A strong earnings report was the catalyst.
Futures strengthened a bit before the opening bell after a December reading on inflation was revised slightly lower.
December’s CPI inflation rate was revised to a monthly gain of 0.2% from 0.3%, while December’s core CPI was left unchanged at a 0.3% increase. The fourth-quarter core CPI remained unchanged, with a 3.3% annualized increase.
Stock Market Today
The Nasdaq composite held a 0.6% gain in the early going. Top gainers in the Nasdaq 100 included software firms MongoDB (MDB) and Datadog (DDOG) with gains of around 4%.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to 5,012 as of 10:45 a.m. ET.
The Russell 2000 small-cap index added 0.5% after a nice bounce off the 50-day moving average Thursday.
Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners on the Nasdaq by less than 2-to-1. Winners were evenly matched with losers on the NYSE. Volume on the Nasdaq was sharply higher compared to the same time Thursday. NYSE volume was lower.
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Bitcoin rallied nearly 4% to just over $47,100 after a big gain Thursday. Marathon Digital (MARA) rallied another 7% after soaring 23% Thursday. Riot Platforms (RIOT) gapped above its 50-day line and rose more than 5%. The stock is up more than 20% so far this week. MicroStrategy (MSTR) — which currently owns 190,000 bitcoins at an average cost of $31,224 — tacked on 5% and is also up more than 25% so far this week.
Cloudflare (NET) was a big earnings winner in the stock market today, up more than 20%. The company delivered another quarter of triple-digit earnings growth, with adjusted profit more than doubling to 15 cents a share. Revenue increased 32% to $362.5 million. Cloudflare provides products that speed up and provide security for web applications routed through its global network.
In the MarketSmith Growth 250, Dexcom (DXCM) slipped more than 3% despite strong Q4 results. Adjusted profit rose 47% to 50 cents a share. The maker of glucose monitoring systems for diabetics also reported revenue of just over $1 billion, up 27%.
A few other names fell sharply on earnings. Buy now pay later firm Affirm (AFRM) slumped 9%. Pinterest (PINS) and Expedia (EXPE) also fell sharply on disappointing results.
UiPath (PATH) was a strong gainer in the MarketSmith Growth 250 after flashing an early buy signal Thursday. The stock is near the top of an eight-week consolidation with a 26.53 buy point.
10-Year Yield
The 10-year Treasury yield edged up to 4.18%.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures added 1% in the stock market today to just over $77 a barrel.
Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell tempered rate-cut expectations, saying that inflation needs to make more progress toward the Fed’s target of 2%, and the economy is strong enough that the Fed can afford to be patient with rate cuts.
There’s still a fear that inflation could stay sticky and delay Fed rate cuts. The latest core Personal Consumption Expenditures index, one of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauges, came in at 2.9% vs. expectations of 3%.
Right now, fed funds futures traders at CME FedWatch aren’t expecting a rate cut at the March meeting. Traders see a 63% chance of at least a quarter point cut at the May meeting.
Follow Ken Shreve on X/Twitter @IBD_KShreve for more stock market analysis and insight.
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