Dow Jones Today: Stocks Rise Slightly in Early Trading as Market Looks to Add to All-Time Highs
Stocks were mixed in early trading Tuesday as the market took a breather after a weeklong, election-fueled rally that has pushed major indexes to a series of record highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were down 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.1% about an hour after the opening bell. The indexes closed at all-time highs on Monday, with the S&P 500 finishing above 6,000 points for the first time ever. Investor optimism has been running high following Donald Trump’s decisive victory in last week’s presidential election and the Federal Reserves move to cut interest rates.
Tesla (TSLA) shares, which have been among the biggest gainers during the rally, were down about 2% in early trading. The stock has risen more than 40% over the past week amid hopes that the EV maker stands to benefit from CEO Elon Musk’s close relationship with the president-elect.
Other mega-cap technology stocks were mixed, with Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META) gaining ground while Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL) fell slightly.
Among other noteworthy movers early Tuesday, shares of Honeywell (HON) were up more than 4% following a Bloomberg report that activist investor Elliott Investment Management had taken a $5 billion stake in the company. Home Depot (HD) shares were down about 0.5%, giving back earlier gains, after the retailer reported better-than-expected quarterly results and boosted its sales projections. Shopify (SHOP) shares were up 25% after a strong earnings report.
Bitcoin was trading around $87,000, after hitting fresh record highs overnight at near $90,000. The cryptocurrency has gained about 25% over the past week on optimism that a Trump White House and supportive Congress could implement policies that support the asset class. The crypto-related stocks that soared on Monday, including Coinbase (COIN) and MARA Holdings (MARA), were giving back some of those gains this morning.
Gold futures were little changed at around $2,620 an ounce. The precious metal, which hit an all-time high above $2,800 early last week, has lost ground recently as the U.S. dollar has strengthened since the election.
The yield on 10-year Treasurys, which is correlated with expectations around where interest rates are headed, was at 4.37% this morning, up from its previous close at 4.31%.
The economic data calendar is light today but picks up in the coming days, with particular focus on Wednesday’s CPI inflation reading and Friday’s retail sales report. Investors are watching data closely for indications that the economy remains on sound footing, as well as information that could affect the Fed’s futures decisions on interest rates.