The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat in afternoon trading Thursday as the blue-chip index sought to snap a three-day losing streak. Meanwhile, the Magnificent Seven companies have been mixed as leaders in the AI industry Nvidia (NVDA) And Meta platforms (dead) rose, but Google the parents the alphabet (Google) stumbled into the stock market today.
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The Dow Jones was up about 0.5% in the latest move and hit a session high of 39,421. But the Nasdaq outperformed by advancing 1.1% in the stock market today. The Nasdaq 100 nearly matched the Composite's gains. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% in afternoon trading.
Database software, specialty companies, solar, airlines and specialty retail stocks led the upside among IBD's 197 industry groups. All of these industries rose 2% or more on a price-weighted basis.
Outside the stock market, gold futures fell slightly after a recent strong rally, trading at $2,313 an ounce. Gold is shining with 11% gains year to date.
SPDR Gold ETF (GLD) recently rose from a two-month flat base — a bullish chart pattern for savvy investors — during the week ending March 1. It is now on track to rise for six out of seven weeks. The ETF is down just 0.4% but has advanced 3% so far this week.
Meanwhile, silver rose, rising 0.5% on Thursday to $27.19 an ounce. The price of copper rose by 1.2% to reach $4.24 per pound. The industrial metal is now up 8.7% since January 1, suggesting that global copper demand may be recovering in the wake of positive manufacturing data from China and the United States.
Stock Market Today: Meta Jumps, Nvidia Touches 900
Elsewhere, Meta, A Half size position in IBD Leaderboard, jumped more than 4%. Jefferies raised its price target on Facebook's parent company to 585 from 550.
Nvidia stock rose slightly. At one point, Nvidia broke through the 900 level, reaching 906.33. The stock is up 81% so far this year versus a 4% gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Outside of the Dow Jones, a growing number of companies have made new hacks as well. Federal signal (Fixed-satellite service) A five-week flat base scan shows an entry at 85.98. Shares of the road and infrastructure maintenance equipment supplier outperformed major indexes, rising 3.3% to 88.36.
5% buy zone rises in Federal signal to 90.28. Trading volume is 95% above its 50-day moving average, indicating significant demand for the stock among mutual funds, insurance companies, retirement plans and the like.
Stock Market Today: Jobs Report Looms
Initial jobless claims for the latest week rose to 221,000, much higher than expected Econoday Consensus Forecast from 213,000. The four-week average initial claims rose to 214,500, another indication that rate hikes by the Fed in 2022 and part of 2023 are helping cool a hot labor market.
In the stock market, trading volume was mixed, up more than 7% on the New York Stock Exchange but down 8% on the Nasdaq versus the same time on Wednesday.
Investors are looking to see the March non-farm payrolls report on Friday before the open. In February, the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%. This is not expected to change, while economists expect 200,000 net new jobs to be created last month.
Google Stock: Decent Relative Strength
Alphabet, the operator of Google's search engine, fell nearly 0.9% in early trading and was trading at a low of 152.18. But Google shares trimmed the loss to less than 0.5% at midday. Reports stated that the web search and cloud computing giant is considering offering a paid service that includes artificial intelligence programs.
Alphabet is struggling to break out of the base with a new buy point at 153.78 after its latest breakout. But Google stock didn't fall far below the correct entry level of 152.18. The stock has been leading the key 50-day moving average higher over the past month, which is a bullish signal.
Relative strength rating of 82 for the alphabet, according to IBD inventory checkdecent on a scale of 1 to 99. IBD Research has found that among the biggest stock market winners, the average RS rating at the time of a strong breakout is 87.
Google fuels HubSpot outbreak
Reports indicate that Alphabet is interested in purchasing a marketing software company HubSpot (Axes) sent the latter's shares past a new buy point at 660.
Like Federal Signal, HubSpot also formed a flat base while finding support during pullbacks to the bullish 50-day moving average. HubSpot stock rose more than 9% in afternoon trading and reached a high of 693.85. At this price, it briefly crossed the appropriate buy zone of 660 to 693.
Please read this Investor Corner about the importance of buying growth stocks as close as possible to the buy point and not too far from the pivot breakout price.
Before Thursday's price boom, HubSpot had an enviable 95 Composite Rating on a scale of 1 to 99. You can see all of IBD's stock pick ratings, including the Composite, at IBD Stock Checkup.
Stock Market Today: What Can Gold Do After the Election?
Dow jones today
Within the Dow Jones, more than a dozen names rose one point or more. Travelers (luxury) And Larva (cat) joined three other Dow Jones stocks with gains of more than 2 points each.
Small companies continued to recover from this week's losses. Amid a slight decline in long-term interest rates, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was trading at 4.34%, off the session high of 4.38%.
Thus the Russell 2000 rose 1%, slightly outperforming large caps and blue-chip stocks. The Russell Index is trading near the 2100 mark, still posting a 1.3% loss on the week. However, the weekly chart shows upward support at the small-cap index's rising 10-week moving average.
Nvidia shows positive action
IBD's Big Picture column in recent days has emphasized that although the number of distribution days remains high within the 25-session count, the stock market has been able to weather such hits.
Meanwhile, megacap tech and AI chipset leader Nvidia showed positive action by moving sideways after a strong breakout beyond the 505.48 buy point in early January.
Not only is Nvidia keeping it close to 900, the key century mark on its chart, but it's also working on a potential new base. The mild pullback seen in recent weeks may create a flat base pattern.
Stock Market Today: Levi Strauss Continues Its Recovery
outside the Dow Jones, Levi Strauss (Levi) continued its impressive rebound in the stock market today. Shares rose 10% during the week following better-than-expected quarterly results ending February.
The jeans and casual apparel company saw earnings fall 24% to 26 cents per share as sales fell 8% to $1.56 billion. However, Wall Street expects a strong rebound in the bottom line, with earnings expected to jump 166%, 35%, 20% and 25% over the next four quarters.
In late January, Levi Strauss succeeded in a second breakout attempt. After initially stumbling, shares rose past the appropriate buy point of 17.22 in a tall, deep cup with handle. Since then, mid-cap stocks have risen more than 27%. Thus, investors can secure at least partial profits.
ConAgra is leading the charge
ConAgra Brands (Kaj) also led the bullish trend in the stock market today. The packaged food giant's prices rose and rose more than 5% according to its fiscal third-quarter numbers. The stock is back above its 200-day moving average and is trying to clear upward resistance near the 30 level.
The daily chart highlights a 3 1/2 month base which features double bottom elements and an entry level of 29.89.
However, industry citizens Lamb Weston (LW) with an 18% decline in heavy trade. The company's slower-than-expected implementation of a new enterprise resource planning software system weighed on its third-quarter adjusted earnings, MarketWatch reported. The frozen French fries supplier also lowered its sales forecast for fiscal 2024.
Please follow Chung on X/Twitter: @cytouchong And @IBD_DChung
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