Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Fall, Gold Sets New Record High as US Government Shuts Down

Musk Tells X Followers to ‘Cancel Netflix’

23 minutes ago

Netflix (NFLX) stock is not off to a strong start Wednesday. A social media post by Elon Musk probably didn’t help.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla (TSLA), SpaceX, and others, instructed followers on his X network to “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids.”

Shares of Netflix were down 2.2% in the first hour of trading. Still, they have added more than 30% of their value this year.

Nike Levels to Watch as Shares Surge on Surprise Sales Growth

47 minutes ago

Nike (NKE) shares jumped in early trading Wednesday after the sports apparel and equipment maker posted surprise sales growth and topped Wall Street’s earnings expectations.

The company said revenue grew 1% in the fiscal first quarter from a year earlier, well above its prior guidance of a mid-single-digit percentage decline. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.49, compared with the $0.26 analysts had expected.

Nike, which is undergoing an ambitious turnaround effort, cited strength in its wholesale, running, and North American businesses, which offset weaker sales in China. The company cautioned that it anticipates holiday season sales to fall, and that it now expects a $1.5 billion hit from tariffs in the current fiscal year, up from the $1 billion it had projected in June. 

Heading into the report, Nike shares had lost 8% since the start of the year, pressured by concerns over the company’s high exposure to tariffs and uncertainty about the execution of its turnaround. The stock was up nearly 4% at around $72.50 in recent trading.

Over the past month, Nike shares have traded lower within a falling wedge but look set to break out from the pattern on Wednesday.

It’s worth noting the stock found buying interest ahead of the report around the closely watched 200-day moving average, a move that coincided with the relative strength index climbing out of oversold territory.

Read the full technical analysis piece here.

–Timothy Smith

Big Tech’s AI Spending—and Borrowing—Will Be Even Higher Next Year, Says Citi

1 hr 10 min ago

After a series of big cloud computing deals this month, Citigroup analysts now expect AI spending to exceed their already eye-watering forecast. 

Citi analysts on Tuesday estimated that hyperscalers—including Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Oracle (ORCL), and CoreWeave (CWV)—will spend $490 billion on infrastructure and other capital goods next year, up from a prior estimate of $420 billion. Citi’s forecasts are slightly above the Wall Street consensus.

The analysts pointed to an onslaught of announced partnerships, investments, and products in recent weeks as evidence of strong AI demand. They said their recent conversations with CIOs and CTOs at a range of companies “reflect a similar increase in urgency around adoption at the enterprise level.”1

Citi expects AI infrastructure providers like Nvidia (NVDA) to benefit from higher spending. As such, the firm’s analysts raised their price target on Nvidia shares to $210 from $200 on Tuesday.

Read the full article here.

–Colin Laidley

Q4 Begins After Strong Q3 for Stock Indexes

2 hr 25 min ago

Stock investors are hoping the fourth quarter, which begins today, goes a lot like the third.

Major stock indexes registered robust gains in Q3, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq soaring 11.2%, the benchmark S&P 500 adding 7.8%, and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average advancing 5.2%.

The indexes were aided by an unusually strong September, with the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq gaining 5.6%, 3.5%, and 1.9%, respectively.

For the year, the Nasdaq has soared 17.3%, the S&P 500 has jumped 13.7%, and the Dow has increased 9.1%.

Stocks Have Had a Big 2025. Should You Buy Into the ‘Most Wonderful Time’ of the Year?

2 hr 53 min ago

It’s been a good year for U.S. stocks so far. Some experts are calling for an even stronger finish.

An uncharacteristically strong September—the month with a reputation as the worst for stocks—saw the S&P 500 add 3.5% after logging a series of fresh highs, bringing the benchmark index up close to 14% year-to-date. That, some say, could be a bullish signal about the next three months.

The end to a trading year is generally seen as an upbeat time for traders, who sometimes cite adages—and the history that underpins them—as reason for optimism. (The most important motto, however, might be the reminder that “past performance does not guarantee future results.”)

Over the last 76 years, when the S&P 500 climbed in the first nine months of the year, investors saw gains in the fourth quarter roughly 89% of the time. And when the benchmark index hit records in September, according to LPL Financial, that number got even higher, creeping over 90%.

The index has logged an average return of 2.9% in the last three months of the year going back to 1928, Bank of America analysts recently wrote, better than any other quarter. Q4, the analysts wrote, is historically the “most wonderful time of the year for stocks.”

That period tends to kick off with a comparatively slow October—the month has posted negative returns about 40% of the time since 1928, according to BofA—followed by a stronger November.

Read the full article here.

–Kara Greenberg

Stock Futures Fall as US Government Shuts Down

3 hr 10 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.4%.

S&P 500 futures were 0.5% lower.

Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.5%.