Major stock market indexes were mixed after two days of sharp gains. Home Depot (HD) outperformed early in the Dow Jones Industrial Average ahead of next week's earnings report. Home Depot stock rallied 1%, helped by an upgrade from Telsey Advisory to outperform from market perform.
Nvidia stock was mostly flat on its first day of trading as a member of the Dow industrials, while Trump Media stock tried to bounce after Thursday's sharp drop. Trump Media & Technology (DJT) soared more than 30% Wednesday on news of the company namesake's election victory, but the gained faded to 6% by the close.
↑ XSemiconductor stocks like Nvidia (NVDA) weren't moving much despite news of strong October sales at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM). After a modest breakout Thursday, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) was mostly flat.
TSMC is the world's largest chip foundry and is well positioned for growth in artificial intelligence. TSM shares were up 1% in the early going after the company said October revenue increased 29% in local currency.
Broadcom (AVGO) also edged higher after joining the Leaderboard model portfolio Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrials rose 0.4%, and the S&P 500 climbed 0.2% but the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1% in early trading. Security software firm Fortinet (FTNT) and Tesla (TSLA) were top gainers on the Nasdaq in the stock market today, while Axon Enterprise (AXON) and Expedia (EXPE) outperformed in the S&P 500. The latter two were rallying on earnings reports.
After three straight higher-volume gains for the Nasdaq — a clear sign of institutional accumulation — volume on the Nasdaq early Friday was slightly lower compared to the same time Thursday. NYSE volume was also tracking lower. Winners had a slight edge over advancers on both exchanges.
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After a sharp post-Fed meeting drop, the 10-year Treasury yield fell another four basis points to 4.3%. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's news conference was widely regarded as dovish after the Fed, as expected, cut its key lending rate by 25 basis points to a range of 4.5% to 4.75%.
As usual there were some gold mines and land mines on the earnings front.
Fortinet jumped more than 4% after reporting a 13% rise in revenue. Investors shrugged off sluggish billings guidance.
Leaderboard stock Axon soared more than 10% after gapping up in price for two straight sessions. Late Thursday, the maker of Taser devices reported a 38% jump in quarterly profit, with revenue up 32% to $544.3 million.
Other earnings winners included Toast (TOST), Expedia (EXPE) and medical software provider Doximity (DOCS). Doximity soared more than 30% after the company reported its second straight quarter of accelerating revenue growth. But the stock is quite extended after a bounce off the 10-week moving average.
Toast, which operates a technology platform for restaurant management, soared more than 5% in the stock market today, helped by a 26% jump in revenue. But Toast is still far from its all-time high of 69.93 set in early November 2021.
Online travel firm Expedia rallied more than 8%. It's now more than 10% above an alternate entry of 164.65. A key IBD buy rule says to avoid buying stocks that have moved more than 5% past a proper buy point. Group peer Airbnb (ABNB) slumped 9% on disappointing earnings.
China stocks sold off hard Friday after China's parliamentary meeting ended, and the country announced a $1.4 trillion debt package to help debt-ridden local governments. The news was disappointing because it was unclear how the move would spur economic growth in the world's No. 2 economy.
Crane CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB), which counts Tencent (TCEHY) and Alibaba (BABA) as top holdings, slumped 5%. Tencent and Alibaba report earnings next week.
Follow Ken Shreve on X @IBD_KShreve for more stock market analysis and insight.
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