4:19pm: Tech struggling to start 2024
The Dow closed Tuesday down 158 points, 0.4%, at 37,525, the Nasdaq Composite added 14 points, 0.1%, to 14,858 and the S&P 500 slid 7 points, 0.2%, to 4,757. The small-cap Russell 2000 index fell 21 points, 1.1%, to 1,968.
Nvidia shares gained 1.7% to close at another record high and lift the Nasdaq. Even so, tech is down 1.1% overall to start 2024.
“We’re moving away from away from Big Tech, and we’re going into deeper parts of the market that had but actually unloved. ... For example, we’re seeing more buyers interested in health care,” said LPL Financial chief global strategist Quincy Krosby, as reported by CNBC. By comparison, the healthcare sector is up 3% on the year.
12:00pm: Stocks remain on the back foot, tech off lows
Tech stocks came off lows but blue-chips remained in the doldrums as the uncertain start to 2024 for equities continued.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 215.36 points, 0.6%, at 37,467.65, the S&P 500 was down 12.85 points, 0.3%, at 4,750.69 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 17.13 points, 0.1%, at 14,826.64.
"'Monday's tech driven rally, the largest in almost two months, gave way to profit taking ahead of key US inflation data and Q4 earnings season', said Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at online trading platform IG.
Illumina rose 3.8% after it said revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 rose 3% annually to $1.12 billion.
For 2023 as a whole, revenue was down 2% on-year to USD4.50 billion, however.
9:40am: Stocks resume downward path
US stocks opened sharply lower as Monday's tech-led bounce faded and investors turned their attention to Thursday's inflation print.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 233.84 points, 0.6%, at 37,449.17, the S&P 500 was down 25.96 points, 0.5%, at 4,737.58 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 98.23 points, 0.7%, at 14,745.54.
Boeing fell a further 3.3% after United Airlines and Alaska Airlines found loose parts on some grounded 737 Maxes, threatening to widen the company’s problems after a single plane suffered a mid-air blowout on Friday.
Airlines were in the spotlight at Bank of America which double-upgraded United Ailines, up 0.7%, to 'buy' but downgraded JetBlue to 'underperform.'
Elsewhere, shares of Juniper Networks soared 23% after a Wall Street Journal report said Hewlett Packard Enterprise could announce a deal to acquire the networking hardware company for about $13 billion as soon as this week.
In economic news, the trade deficit narrowed in November, data from the US Census Bureau and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis showed .
The country's international trade in goods & services deficit narrowed by 2.0% to $63.2 billion in November from $64.5 billion in October.
Exports declined by 1.9% to $253.7 billion month-on-month, while imports fell by 1.9% to $316.9 billion in November.
7:00am: Stocks called lower as up-and-down start to 2024 continues
Stocks are expected to open lower as the volatile start to the year continues.
In pre-market trading, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.4%, while those for the S&P 500 were 0.4% lower and contracts for the Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.6%.
Monday saw a tech-led rally as mega-cap stocks outperformed as investors bought the dip after last week’s selloff.
Bank of America pointed out last week's mixed data releases and reversal of the "everything rally" reaffirmed that economic data remains hard to forecast, forward policy path visibility is still low and equities can sell off as rate cuts get priced out.
Investors are also wary ahead of Thursday’s inflation print although yesterday’s sharp fall in the oil price supported hopes price growth will continue to decelerate in 2024.
Boeing could come under further pressure after United Airlines and Alaska Airlines found loose parts on some grounded 737 Maxes, threatening to widen the company’s problems after a single plane suffered a mid-air blowout on Friday.
Elsewhere, the EU’s competition regulator is investigating whether Microsoft’s investment into OpenAI could be reviewed under the bloc’s merger rules.
“The European Commission is checking whether Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI might be reviewable under the EU Merger Regulation,” the commission said in a statement.