By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 23rd, 2024
The Dow had the weakest performance among the three major indexes during Tuesday’s session, primarily due to several declining stocks.
On Tuesday, November 7, two big Wall Street indices – S&P 500 (INDEXSP: .INX) and Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ: .IXIC) – recorded their longest winning streak in nearly two years since November 2021. Notably, the S&P 500 recorded gains for the seventh consecutive day, a feat not seen since its eight-day green zone movement in November 2021. Similarly, the Nasdaq achieved eight consecutive winning days for the first time since the 11-day rally recorded in the same period. The Dow also rose for the seventh straight session, marking its longest winning streak since July.
The S&P 500 concluded the day with a 0.28% gain, closing at 4,378.38, while the Nasdaq surged by 0.9%, ending the session at 13,639.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX: .DJI) inched up by 56.74 points, or 0.17%, settling at 34,152.60.
Technology stocks saw an upward trend as yields retreated, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note trading about 9 basis points lower at 4.573%. Leading tech gainers included Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Salesforce Inc (NYSE: CRM), both posting gains of over 2%, while Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) saw gains of approximately 1%.
Semiconductor stocks like Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: AMD), Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO), and Intel also rose ahead of the funding rollout from the Chips Act. Speaking on the development, Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones said:
“As yields move lower, we tend to get a bigger rebound in the growth parts of the market.”
She further added that the cooling down in the oil price shall contribute to slowing down inflation. Thus, it shall also give some relief to consumers going ahead. “There’s some momentum after last week, there’s some follow through,” she Mahajan. “We’re not seeing yet any real consolidation in some of the gains we’ve seen over the last six days.”
Dow Jones Underperforms
The Dow had the weakest performance among the three major indexes during Tuesday’s session, primarily due to several declining stocks. The 30-stock index managed to eke out only a 0.2% gain, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite saw increases of 0.3% and 1%, respectively.
Chevron had a negative impact on the blue-chip average, suffering a nearly 2% loss. Additionally, Boeing, Caterpillar, and Dow Inc contributed to the Dow’s limited gains, with each of them experiencing declines of more than 1%.
Although these underperforming stocks weighed on the index, the majority of the 30 members traded higher during the session. Notably, Intel led the way with a 2.3% gain, and Salesforce also made a significant advance of 2%.
Wall Street remained in a state of contemplation regarding the sustainability of last week’s rally, which marked the best performance for all three indices in 2023. Thus far this month, the major averages are maintaining a positive trajectory, with the Dow posting a 3.3% increase. The S&P and Nasdaq have surged even further, with gains of 4.4% and 6.1%, respectively.