Join +750K new investors every month who copy stock picks from billionaire's portfoliosSign Up Free

Dow braves volatility on path to tenth straight day of gains

Published 2023-07-21, 06:07 a/m
© Reuters. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 20, 2023.  REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
USD/CAD
-
NDX
-
US500
-
DJI
-
JNJ
-
AXP
-
NQM24
-
NFLX
-
TSLA
-
IXIC
-

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Johann M Cherian

(Reuters) - Wall Street rose in choppy trading on Friday, with a rally in healthcare stocks setting the blue-chip Dow index on course for its tenth straight day of gains.

After see-sawing for a while, the Dow firmed and was on track to notch its longest winning streak in almost six years.

"Valuations are very high in the technology sector," and a bit lower in sectors such as healthcare and banking, said Paul Nolte, senior wealth advisor and market strategist for Murphy & Sylvest.

The S&P 500 index for healthcare stocks rose 1.1% on Friday, while the NYSE FANG+TM index that houses megacap growth names slipped after falling 4.6% in the previous session as earnings from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) failed to dazzle.

The electric carmaker and streaming video company extended previous session's sharp losses by 0.6% and 2.3%, respectively, on Friday.

Analysts attribute the market choppiness to the expiration of monthly options on Friday and the expected special rebalancing of the multi-trillion dollar Nasdaq 100, which is due at the close of trading.

At 11:50 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 99.61 points, or 0.28%, at 35,324.79, the S&P 500 was up 16.13 points, or 0.36%, at 4,551.00, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 31.23 points, or 0.22%, at 14,094.53.

Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors advanced, with utilities leading gains with a 1.7% rise.

The Nasdaq has rallied 34.3% this year, supported by optimism over artificial intelligence, a relatively resilient U.S. economy and expectations the end of the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hike cycle was on the horizon.

While the Fed is widely expected to go for a 25 basis point hike at its July 25-26 meeting next week, market participants have been mixed as to where it will go in the ensuing months.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) fell 3.6% on Friday after the credit card giant missed quarterly revenue expectations and kept its forecast for full-year profit unchanged, which unnerved investors.

SLB shed 2.8% as the top oilfield services firm missed quarterly revenue expectations due to moderating drilling activity in North America.

Toymaker Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT)'s shares added 0.8% as the much-anticipated "Barbie" film debuted in theaters globally.

© Reuters. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 20, 2023.  REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.61-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.22-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 31 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 67 new highs and 56 new lows.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.