Stock Market Today: Dow ends at record; S&P 500, Nasdaq bounce after tech pullback - MarketWatch

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Last Updated:

Oct. 16, 2024 at 4:21 PM EDT

Here are the top stories to read during Wednesday trading:

Tech stocks are nearing their first record high since July as dip-buyers get their wish

All of Kamala Harris’s and Donald Trump’s proposed tax breaks — in two charts

Bond investors position for new debt from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley .

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Updated 11 hours ago

By

Vivien Lou Chen

Major U.S. stock indexes bounced back from a selloff in the prior session to finish higher on Wednesday, buoyed by strong corporate-earnings results from names like Morgan Stanley and United Airlines.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up by 337.28 points, or 0.8%, at a record high of 43,077.70, based on preliminary data. It surpassed its previous record close of 43,065.22 reached on Monday.

The S&P 500 closed up by 27.21 points, or 0.5%, at 5,842.47. That was the index's second-highest close ever.

The Nasdaq Composite ended up by 51.49 points, or 0.3%, at 18,367.08 after morning losses faded.

"Banks as a whole seem to be trading pretty well based on positive quarterly earnings, and that signifies the interest-rate environment and lending environment are starting to stabilize and look more attractive for banks,'' said Ryan Jacobs, founder of Florida-based advisory firm Jacobs Investment Management.

"When looking at the whole economic landscape, banks should be able to operate in more attractive lending opportunities,'' Jacobs said via phone.

Meanwhile, Treasury yields finished broadly lower as oil futures dropped again on uncertain future demand. Two-, 10-, and 30-year yields closed at their lowest levels in almost two weeks.

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12 hours ago

By

Myra P. Saefong

Oil futures tallied a fourth straight session of declines on Wednesday, with prices holding ground at their lowest in two weeks as traders focused on an uncertain demand outlook.

The move follows a drop of more than 4% Tuesday on news reports suggesting Israel won’t attack Iran’s oil facilities.

The market seems to be taking seriously the reported promise of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Biden administration that Israel will not hit Iranian oil infrastructure, said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group. Still, some suspect that while there won’t be a direct attack, “there may be some clandestine operations that could impact Iran’s oil exports and revenue.”

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery declined by 19 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $70.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. December Brent crude, the global benchmark, shed 3 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $74.22 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. Brent, as well as WTI, both settled at their lowest since Oct. 2.

After Tuesday’s loss for oil on the Netanyahu news, the market has “retreated into a trading range, with bulls and bears on pins and needles trying to speculate on what may happen next,” said Flynn.

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12 hours ago

By

William Watts

(BTIG)

Investors in exchange-traded funds tracking China stocks may be feeling some motion sickness after the country's stock market rocketed higher late last month in the wake of fresh stimulus measures and then gave back a big chunk — but not all — of those gains on what's so far been seen as a lack of follow-through from Beijing.

That pullback offers investors another bite at the apple, argued Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG, in a Wednesday note. On Sept. 24, Krinsky called the surge in China stocks a "breakout worth chasing." The iShares China Large-Cap ETF added around another 20% from that point through its Oct. 7 high, while the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF rallied around 30% over the same time frame. They then suffered an almost equally as swift correction.

The speed and scope of both moves was a surprise, Krinsky said. "We expected consolidation, but clearly this is more of a price consolidation as opposed to a time consolidation."

Both trades are still in the money, with the pullback leaving China stocks slightly above the breakout point and what should be a strong area of support, the technician said. "This creates a great secondary entry point if you missed the initial breakout."

But don't let a winner turn into a loser, Krinsky cautioned — saying he would use stop-loss sell orders at around $30 on FXI and $31 on KWEB.

iShares China Large-Cap ETF

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KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF

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12 hours ago

By

Vivien Lou Chen

U.S. stock indexes were on track as of Wednesday's final hour of trading to bounce back from a selloff in the prior session, buoyed by strong earnings results from big names like Morgan Stanley.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 324 points, or 0.8%, at 43,065.

The S&P 500 was up 25 points, or 0.4%, at 5,841.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 49 points, or 0.3%, at 18,364, after its morning losses faded.

Major directional moves in various parts of the financial market were "relatively muted ahead of U.S. retail sales tomorrow," said Patricia Medina, a market strategy analyst at the New York Stock Exchange. ''Financials continue to report solid third-quarter earnings, which is stock positive."

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13 hours ago

By

Joseph Adinolfi

America's biggest companies have continued buying back their own shares at a frenzied pace in 2024.

As of Wednesday morning, publicly traded U.S. companies have announced plans to buy back about $1.1 trillion worth of stock, according to data from EPFR.

That's higher than the $943.4 billion announced through Oct. 15 of 2023. Ultimately, companies unveiled plans to buy back $1.2 trillion of stock last year, the highest on record, as MarketWatch's Joy Wiltermuth noted in a recent report. This year's total is on track to be even higher.

The record totals have come despite a tax on such transactions imposed by the Biden administration a couple of years ago.

Abbott Laboratories, Ulta Beauty Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. all announced share-buyback plans when they reported earnings earlier on Wednesday, adding to the calendar-year total.

"Fewer companies are participating this year, but the announcements per company are bigger. A lot of companies have excess cash, and major shareholders of companies are paid through stock-based compensation, providing them with incentives to push equity prices higher," EPFR analyst Winston Chua said in comments emailed to MarketWatch.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs recently cited a resumption in corporate buyback flows following the end of the earnings-season blackout period later this month as one reason why the market could trend higher into the end of the year.

Abbott Laboratories

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Ulta Beauty Inc.

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United Airlines Holdings Inc.

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13 hours ago

By

Isabel Wang

The Nasdaq Composite was rising 0.2% on Wednesday afternoon, wiping away its morning losses and attempting to bounce back from the ASML-fueled selloff of the previous session.

The S&P 500 was up 0.3%, with its information-technology sector reversing an earlier decline to also trade 0.3% higher. The consumer-staples and communication-services sectors were the only two corners of the large-cap benchmark index trading in the red, according to FactSet data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was surging over 290 points, at around 43,030.

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14 hours ago

By

Vivien Lou Chen

With less than three weeks to go before the Nov. 5 election, investors are holding onto the likelihood that neither major political party takes total control of both White House and Congress.

Markets participants "are more comfortable with split control because it maintains the status quo," said Eve Lando, portfolio manager at Santa Fe, N.M.-based Thornburg Investment Management, which has $47 billion in client assets. Her comments were on the impact the election could have on the municipal bond market.

"A Republican or Democratic president who begins their term with a split Congress reduces the likelihood of bipartisan agreements," Lando wrote in an email on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, UBS Global Wealth Management's chief investment office said it is putting a 45% probability on a presidential election win by Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, along with victories for Republicans in the Senate and Democrats in the House of Representatives. That scenario ranks as the most likely outcome seen by the UBS office.

14 hours ago

By

Tomi Kilgore

The Dow Jones Transportation Average is surging 1.9% in recent trading, to outperform its sister index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, by a wide margin, to put it on track to close at the highest price since July 31, 2023.

Keep in mind that the Dow transports hasn't closed at a record since the Nov. 2, 2021 close of 17,039.38, while the Dow industrials closed at a record 43,065.22 two days ago.

Helping fuel the Dow transports' current rally is the 11.3% surge in United Airlines' stock, after the air carrier reported strong third-quarter results.

United's stock has run up 15.3% this week, and was headed for an 11th straight weekly gain. That's way past the previous record of eight-straight weekly gains, which ended the week through Jan. 12, 2018.

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14 hours ago

By

Ciara Linnane

Bond investors — who have sent spreads on the debt of the big U.S. money-center banks to their tightest levels of the year — are now positioning for new issuance, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley both tapping the high-grade debt market on Wednesday.

The moves come a day after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised $8 billion in a four-part deal.

JPMorgan kicked off the third-quarter earnings season on Friday with profit and revenue beating expectations, as net interest income rose and investment-banking revenue soared 30%.

Bond investors — who have sent spreads on the debt of the big U.S. money-center banks to their tightest levels of the year — are now positioning for new issuance, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley both tapping the high-grade debt market on Wednesday.

Citigroup Inc.

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15 hours ago

By

Emily Bary

Amazon.com Inc.'s latest deal for nuclear power is giving a fresh boost to nuclear stocks that have been some of the best performers of 2024.

The retail giant struck a deal that will lead to the construction of four advanced small modular reactors, or SMRs, in Washington state. Google also struck an SMR arrangement earlier in the week, continuing Big Tech's embrace of nuclear power. At the same time, these latest agreements are a departure of sorts from prior ones between large cloud companies and energy providers, as those other prominent ones involved existing reactors.

That Amazon is turning to new SMRs is proving a catalyst for shares of Oklo Inc., up 38%, and Nuscale Power Corp., up 31%, which make SMR technology and are the top two performers on the New York Stock Exchange for Wednesday. Shares of established independent power producers that have nuclear footprints are also up strongly, though to far lesser degrees, with Vistra Corp.'s stock up 5%, in one example.

The Global X Uranium ETF is up about 6%.

(Getty Images)

Oklo Inc.

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Amazon.com Inc.

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