S&P 500, Nasdaq Get a Lift From Big Tech Stocks
It hasn’t been pretty, but the stock market was mostly rising on Monday.
The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in early afternoon trading. It has stayed in positive territory today, though there have been several spikes and pullbacks.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.5%. The tech-heavy index is riding another wave of dip-buying among artificial intelligence-linked stocks and Big Tech. That could explain why the Dow is fighting to pull back above breakeven.
The blue-chip index was down 45 points, or 0.1%, after opening higher. It has fewer key AI and tech stocks than the other big indexes, and it also weighs the ones it has by stock price, rather than market cap. Only 14 of the 30 Dow stocks were rising on Monday. Though it doesn’t have every Mag 7 stock, it does have Apple, which was down on the day after a recent run.
Markets may be extra jittery this week as traders await updates on efforts to avert a government shutdown. Beyond the impacts on the economy, a shutdown would also effect the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Central bankers and traders, alike, were looking to Friday’s jobs report to help drive the path forward for interest rates.
Stocks struggled last week as some indicators suggested the market was looking overbought. There was some dip-buying on Friday, which helped keep the S&P 500 above its 50-day moving average for its 103rd trading day in a row.
“The primary trend remains firmly bullish, but a shakeout is long overdue,” Jonathan Krinsky, BTIG’s chief market technician writes. “High [volatility] names and retail favorites appear to be cooling off, and sentiment remains complacent.”
Frank Cappelleri, founder of technical analysis firm CappThesis, is also watching the index’s 13-week, 26-week, and 40-week moving averages.
“In short, the S&P continues to grind higher, but the current setup suggests we could still be in the early stages of another long-term follow-through move—something to keep in focus in the weeks and months ahead,” writes Cappelleri.