NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 22: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during afternoon trading on January 22, 2024 in New York City. The Dow Jones and S&P both hit all time highs with the Dow Jones closing over 38,000 points for the first time ever as stocks continue to rise. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The S&P 500 rose for a sixth straight day, overcoming a slump in Tesla as data indicated continued economic growth.
The broad index rose 0.53% to 4,894.16, clinching another all-time closing record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 242.74 points, or 0.64%, to 38,049.13. The Nasdaq Composite increased by just 0.18% to 15,510.50, weighed down by a post-earnings tumble in Tesla shares.
Despite Thursday’s muted gains, the technology-heavy Nasdaq has outperformed this week, tracking to finish up 1.3%. The S&P 500 has advanced 1.1%, while the blue-chip Dow is 0.5% higher on the week.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have finished higher for the past six trading days. The benchmark S&P 500 has closed at a record high for five sessions in a row, the longest streak since November 2021.
Gross domestic product data showed the U.S. economy grew at a rate of 3.3% in the fourth quarter. That’s much higher than the 2% expectation from economists polled by Dow Jones, underscoring continued economic resiliency despite interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
Thursday’s report also included encouraging data on the inflation front. The personal consumption expenditures price index posted a quarterly gain of 2% when excluding food and energy, a core gauge that the Fed prefers when assessing inflation. Headline inflation increased just 1.7%.
“That was a really healthy mix of data,” said Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “That’s pretty much as close to nirvana as you can get for the Fed in looking for non-inflationary growth.”
But a sell-off in Tesla, a retail investor favorite, weighed on the market. Shares plunged more than 12% after the electric vehicle maker posted disappointing fourth-quarter results and warned of lower vehicle volume growth for 2024.
On the other hand, IBM jumped more than 9% after the technology company posted adjusted earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ predictions.
More than one-fifth of S&P 500 companies have reported financials this earnings season, according to FactSet. Nearly 74% of those have surpassed Wall Street expectations, the firm’s data shows.
Stocks finish higher
The three major indexes finished Thursday in the green.
The Dow climbed 0.6%. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% to a new all-time closing record. The Nasdaq Composite inched up about 0.2%, weighed down by a sell-off in Tesla.
Thursday’s session marked the sixth straight winning session for both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
Tesla in 2024 is approaching, and in some cases exceeding, solar stocks’ losses
Tesla (-26.5%) has already lost more value in 2024 than Being (-23%), quite an impressive flat.
Now the EV maker is competing with washed out solar energy stocks to register some of the largest declines early in the new year.
For the time being, Sunnova Energy (-31.3% in 2024) and Sunrun (-27%) have declined more than Tesla so far this year. But Tesla now surpasses the declines in both SolarEdge Technologies (-25.3%) and Enphase Energy (-19.6%).
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