Why the Dow is lagging the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq
U.S. stocks were rising across the board on Wednesday morning, buoyed by the advance in megacap technology names.
Under the surface, however, there is furious paddling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was struggling to hold on to its slight gains, up 0.2% to trade at around 44,138, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were up 0.8% and 1.4%, respectively, according to FactSet data.
Johnson & Johnson’s stock was the worst performer on the blue-chip index on Wednesday morning, off 2.8% after the company beat estimates for the fourth quarter but offered some mixed guidance. Shares of Home Depot Inc. were falling 1.5%, while Sherwin-Williams Co.’s stock was down 1%, according to FactSet data.
At the other end of the spectrum, shares of Nvidia Corp. were surging 3.6%, helping the Dow to stay afloat. But the 30-stock index doesn’t include Netflix Inc., which was popping over 11% as the best performer on the large-cap S&P 500 index.