Stocks are trading choppy after S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record intraday highs
Shares closed at record highs on Friday as investors digested disappointing results from Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) which came during an otherwise strong quarterly reporting season from many large companies.
The S&P 500 set intraday and closing records. The index posted a monthly gain of over 6.5% in October, its best month-on-month advance since November 2020. The consumer discretionary, energy and information technology sectors outperformed last month. during the month.
The Nasdaq also hit a new all-time high, even as a few heavily weighted tech giants saw their stocks fall.
Amazon shares fell after the e-commerce juggernaut missed third-quarter expectations and forecasted increased spending in the fourth quarter due to supply chain disruptions and rising labor costs. of work, materials and freight. These factors are expected to generate “billions of dollars in additional costs” for Amazon in the current quarter, the company said in its statement.
Peer-to-peer tech giant Apple also disappointed Wall Street in its first quarter fiscal results, as key iPhone sales fell short of expectations even after the launch of its latest series of iPhone 13 handsets. Apple suppliers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Broadcom (AVGO), also fell immediately after the results.
For Wall Street, the results seemed to justify concerns that growing supply chain disruptions, labor costs and material shortages were impacting businesses of all sizes as the end of the market approached. holiday season and created challenges for businesses to keep pace with growing demand.
And for Apple, Amazon, and some other tech companies, investors were further concerned that these key members of last year’s lucrative “stay-at-home” commerce might not be able to sustain high growth rates as a result. of a pandemic-induced surge in their businesses. Amazon sales rose 15% in the third quarter, slowing significantly from the 27% rate in the second quarter.
“I agree, they’re overvalued,” Rebecca Felton, senior market strategist at Riverfront Investment Group, told Yahoo Finance Live of technology companies on Thursday. “But remember valuation is a condition, not a catalyst. And I think the catalyst of technology will be consistency both up and down.
Meanwhile, investors continued to digest a mixed batch of economic data results, which included a weaker than expected impression of third quarter gross domestic product. The report, although comprehensive in scope, still offered only a retrospective view of the state of the economy. Some experts have suggested that economic activity has already started to recover, helping to support company performance in the last months of the year and stock prices.
“I still think the best is yet to come”, Paul Schatz, President of Heritage Capital Yahoo Finance told Yahoo on Thursday. “Third quarter GDP will be a trough. We are going to have much stronger growth in Q4 and Q1 next year, inflation will peak in the next six months, supply chain issues will moderate sharply at the start of next year Q2 . And this rising tide will lift most ships.
“Economically sensitive trade, whatever you want to call it – reopening, stimulus, inflation – this trade is very alive, very well and it’s not over,” he added.
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4:03 p.m. ET: Stocks hit record highs, S&P 500 posts best monthly advance since November 2020
Here’s where the markets closed Friday’s session:
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S&P 500 (^ GSPC): +8.96 (+ 0.19%) to 4,605.38
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Dow (^ DJI): +89.01 (+ 0.25%) to 35,819.49
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Nasdaq (^ IXIC): +50.27 (+ 0.33%) to 15,498.39
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2:39 p.m. ET: Microsoft overtakes Apple as the most valued US stock by market capitalization
Microsoft (MSFT) shares surged on Friday, sending the stock’s market cap above that of Apple and making the stock the most valued in the United States
The Redmond, Wash., Based company was the best performer in the Dow Jones on Friday, extending its gains after posting better-than-expected quarterly results earlier this week, as its cloud unit Microsoft Azure still has a times increased its growth. Microsoft’s market capitalization hovered at $ 2.478 trillion on Friday afternoon, compared to Apple’s $ 2.466 trillion, according to data from Yahoo Finance.
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12:30 p.m. ET: S&P 500 and Nasdaq surge to record intraday highs
Stocks reversed course into positive territory in afternoon trading, led by gains in the communications services and healthcare sectors in the S&P 500. The Dow reversed earlier losses of 97 points to increase more than 110 points, or 0.3%.
The Nasdaq Composite and the Nasdaq 100 also each set intraday highs despite the drop in heavily weighted tech stocks Amazon and Apple.
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9:31 am ET: Stocks drop as tech stocks lag
Here’s where the markets were trading right after the opening bell:
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S&P 500 (^ GSPC): -23.57 (-0.51%) to 4,572.85
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Dow (^ DJI): -15.81 (-0.04%) to 35,714.67
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Nasdaq (^ IXIC): -111.67 (-0.72%) to 15,339.63
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Raw (CL = F): $ -0.72 (-0.87%) to $ 82.09 per barrel
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Gold (CG = F):-$ 21.60 (-1.2%) to $ 1,781.00 per ounce
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10-year cash flow (^ TNX): + 2.9 bps for a yield of 1.598%
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8:41 a.m. ET: Core PCE inflation rose 3.6% in September from a year ago, matching the rate for August
The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation rose at the expected annual rate in September, holding high on a historic basis but avoiding an expected acceleration.
Basic personal consumption spending, which captures underlying price changes and excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.6% in September from a year ago, announced on Friday. the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This was in line with the expected rate of change, according to Bloomberg data, and in line with the gain from the previous month.
On a month-to-month basis, the core PCE index was up 0.2%, moderating slightly from August’s 0.3% gain.
The broadest measure of personal consumption spending rose 0.3% in September from August and 4.4% in September from a year ago. These two measures met expectations.
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8:33 a.m. ET: Personal income drops more than expected in September as spending meets estimates
Personal income posted a larger-than-expected monthly decline in September, as stimulus to government crisis relief programs waned. Spending, however, increased according to estimates.
US consumer incomes fell 1.0% in September from August, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Friday. This was larger than the expected 0.3% drop, according to Bloomberg consensus data. The Bureau of Economic Analysis noted that the end of improved federal unemployment benefits in early September was one of the main factors contributing to the decline.
Expenses, meanwhile, rose 0.6%, matching expectations. This followed a 0.8% monthly increase in consumer spending in August.
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Friday at 7:22 a.m. ET: Stock futures tumble, Apple and Amazon weigh on Nasdaq
Here’s where the markets were trading before the opening bell:
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S&P 500 Futures Contracts (ES = F): -22.25 points (-0.49%), to 4,565.25
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Dow Futures (YM = F): -42 points (-0.12%), to 35,571.00
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Nasdaq Futures (NQ = F): -137.00 points (-0.87%) to 15,627.75
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Raw (CL = F): + $ 0.20 (+ 0.24%) to $ 83.01 per barrel
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Gold (CG = F): – $ 5.80 (-0.32%) to $ 1,796.80 per ounce
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10-year cash flow (^ TNX): +3.4 bps for a yield of 1.603%
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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter