Stock market today: Nasdaq jumps as Nvidia reaches a milestone

U.S. stocks remained broadly flat on Tuesday, with AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) eyeing a cautious comeback after three days of skidding as investors reorganized their portfolios for the end of the quarter.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose about 0.7%, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) remained the only major index in the red, sliding about 0.3% after jumping more than 200 points earlier in the week.

Stocks are looking brighter after the Nasdaq and S&P 500 suffered setbacks as Nvidia’s slide dampened the tech rally that has fueled gains this year. Investors are seen taking profits from AI-related names as a bumper quarter draws to a close, raising questions about whether recent losses are set to continue.

Shares of the AI darling rose more than 3% in early trading, after falling more than 6% on Monday.

At the same time, the Dow Jones appears to be finding its place amid the shift from tech to value stocks, giving weight to the idea of gains extending to other sectors.

Elsewhere, we are awaiting Friday’s update of the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, an inflation indicator favored by the Federal Reserve. Gov. Michelle Bowman stressed Tuesday that she is prepared to raise interest rates if holding them steady fails to control price pressures.

On the economic data front, home prices hit a new record high in April, although annual growth slowed from the previous month, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller report.

At the same time, a gauge of consumer confidence highlighted cracks in previous resilience. According to the Conference Board’s latest reading, the index stood at 100 for the month of June, below the 101.3 observed in May. The results were in line with the expectations of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

“Confidence fell in June but remained in the same narrow range it has remained in for the past two years, as the strength of current labor market views continued to outweigh concerns about the future,” said Dana M. Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board. in the publication of data. “However, if significant weaknesses emerge in the labor market, confidence could weaken as the year progresses.”

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Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at 11:03 a.m. EDT

Bitcoin returns above $60,000

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices are regaining some strength after prices fell below $60,000 on Monday – their lowest level since early May.

The cryptocurrency saw prices rebound around 1% to trade above $61,650 per coin late Tuesday morning. Other cryptos like Ethereum (ETH-USD) also rose following positive developments in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is down about 12% over the past three months, but is still up more than 45% for the year, supported by recent SEC approvals of the SPOT bitcoin ETFs.
Tue June 25, 2024 at 10:04 a.m. EDT

Consumer confidence falls slightly in June

Consumer confidence dipped slightly in June, ending any signs of a rebound.

The Conference Board’s latest index was 100, below the 101.3 seen in May and in line with 100 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

“Confidence fell in June, but remained in the same narrow range it has remained in for the past two years, as the strength of current labor market views continues to outweigh concerns about the future. However, if significant weaknesses in the labor market emerge, confidence could weaken. as the year progresses,” said Dana M. Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board.

Peterson added: “Consumers expressed mixed feelings this month: their view of the current situation improved slightly overall, thanks to a slight improvement in their sentiment towards the current job market , but their assessment of current business conditions has cooled.”
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at 9:34 a.m. EDT

Opening Bell: Nasdaq Jumps, Dow Slips

U.S. stocks opened mixed on Tuesday as AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) eyed a cautious comeback after three days of skidding, up more than 0.2% in early trading.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose about 0.5%, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) remained the only major index in the red, sliding about 0.2% after jumping more than 200 points earlier in the week.
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at 9:23 a.m. EDT

House prices hit new record in April

House prices hit a new record in April as the market remains tight. But annual growth slowed compared to the previous month.

Home prices in the 20 largest U.S. metros rose 7.2% in the 12 months ending in April, less than the previous month’s 7.5% annual gain, according to the S&P index. CoreLogic Case-Shiller. On a monthly basis, house prices in the 20 largest cities increased by 0.4% in April compared to the previous month.

Low inventory, high mortgage rates and record housing prices have put the real estate market out of reach for many potential buyers. Bank of America economists say housing barriers won’t go away anytime soon.

“The US housing market is stuck, and we are not convinced that it will unblock anytime soon,” wrote Michael Gapen, economist at Bank of America, in a note to clients Monday.

“After a sharp rise in real estate activity during the pandemic, it has since declined and stabilized. We believe that the forces that have reduced affordability, created a lock-in effect for homeowners and limited activity in the housing sector will remain in place throughout our forecast horizon,” added the economist .

At this stage, the investment bank believes that pandemic real estate shocks have yet to be passed through to the market. Bank of America expects house prices to rise about 4.5% this year and 5.0% next year, then fall to 0.5% in 2026.
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at 6:40 a.m. EDT

A major market risk for 2025

As if you needed another money worry.

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger on Monday evening, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reminded investors that the Trump tax cuts are set to expire in 2025.

I can’t remember the last investor I spoke to who expressed concerns about the expiration and its potential impact on the markets.

But Yellen did her best to bring this into focus:

“The signature policy of the Trump years was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and it promised an investment boom that didn’t actually materialize. It gave huge tax breaks to businesses and individuals wealthy. And that has led to a huge increase in the deficit and a decline in tax revenues below historical norms And I think that’s responsible for a lot of the problems we’re currently facing with our fiscal trajectory. all this in place.”

How markets will react in 2025 if the tax cuts are not extended due to deficit concerns is of course very unknown today. However, it should not be ignored in your investment planning process. Consider this alone: No extension of the tax cut would mean the top tax rate would fall to 39.6% from 37%.

This is real money for real people.

You can watch Jenn’s full interview with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen below.
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at 6:22 a.m. EDT

A useful reminder about Nvidia

While everyone now seems to be an Nvidia (NVDA) expert and is waxing poetic about the stock’s recent precipitous drop, I won’t go that route this morning.

Instead, I wanted to present some factual numbers with the help of BTIG technical analyst Jonathan Krinsky. They provide some good context for why Nvidia’s stock is taking a bit of a break.

Here’s what Krinsky has to say, as if to remind the masses that stocks don’t go up every day.

“NVDA has recently traded approximately 100% above its 200-day moving average. Since 1990, the widest spread a U.S. company has ever traded above its 200-day moving average when it was the largest company was 80% by Cisco (CSCO) in March 2000. , which marked its all-time high. In other words, NVDA is in a league of its own. It is also notable that at the top of. Last week, NVDA briefly overtook Microsoft (MSFT) as the largest U.S. company. CSCO briefly overtook MSFT to also become the largest company by market cap, marking the top for both CSCO and the Nasdaq. While we fully recognize that the fundamentals are very different this time around, over the past five years NVDA is +4,280% compared to CSCO’s +4,460% gain over the five years prior to its peak. Over the past 18 months, NVDA is +827%, which is actually double the 18-month CSCO gain in 2000.”