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October 10, 2024
DOW: 42,340
S&P: 5,772
Nasdaq: 18,227
10YR T-Note: 4.10%
Bitcoin: 60,567
VIX: 21.14
Gold: $2,640.50
Crude Oil: $75.00
Prices Current as of 11:03 am
Source: CNBC
Don Selkin, the creator and innovator of the "Fair Value" numbers, as its Chief Market Strategist on the Newbridge platform has given CNBC and its Predecessor, these numbers every day for the over 40 years - never missing a single day, as well as given the fair value for the Nasdaq 100 futures since their introduction in 1996 and the Dow Jones stock index futures since 1997. Mr. Selkin has also been quoted in several publications including but not limited to Bloomberg News, New York Post, Reuters, and The New York Times. Mr. Selkin's Fair Value numbers are included in the U.S.
Futures Report broadcast on CNBC every day before the market
opens attributing "Newbridge Securities" as the source. In addition, NSC provides to its professionals, their clients and the public access to Don Selkin's more in depth financial market views.
Please tell me how many times we have seen days like yesterday, where the major indices start out nominally higher and then proceed to pick up steam as the session moves along, with the familiar result that the Dow and S&P end at further new all-time record highs.
The Dow ended with a new closing best ever level at a large 431 point gain up to 42,512 led by good advances in AAPL for the second straight day after some random downgrade on Monday, AMGN, CAT, GS, HON, IBM and UNH.
The S&P joined the upside party with a 41 point gain to a best ever 5792 with many large technology members wing the winners and this broke last week’s prior record.
The Nasdaq gained 108 to 18,291 led by AAPL, AVGO, COST, NFLX, BKNG and NCLH, of all things while the Russell 2000 Index of small stocks got carried forward up 5 to 2200 while the VIX got dragged down to 20.86 despite the supposedly Middle East concerns and with upside calls as high as 136 for those who want to believe a worst-case scenario is upon us.
Leading the way were cruise-ship companies, whose customers stand to benefit from the surprisingly strong U.S. job market. In addition to RCLH, other gainers in this area were CCL and RCG.
HELE, the company behind Hydro Flask water bottles and OXO kitchen tools, jumped 18% after reporting profit and revenue for the latest quarter that were better than analysts expected. That was even though the company said it is still seeing customers feeling increasingly stretched amid lingering inflation.
KLC gained 9% in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. It has over 2,400 early childhood education centers and before- and after-school sites across the country for kids aged between six weeks and 12 years.
They helped offset a 3.4% slump for sad-sack Dow component BA as the aerospace giant withdrew a contract offer that would have given striking workers 30% raises over four years following a break down in labor talks.
GOOG also kept the market’s gains in check after the heavyweight stock sank 1.5%. The U.S. Justice Department is considering asking a federal judge to break up its Google business after its search engine was declared an illegal monopoly. A breakup is one of many possible remedies under review.
Things were calm following another manic day in China. After earlier surging on hopes for stimulus to prop up the world’s second-largest economy, Chinese stocks have since slumped on disappointment that more is not on the way.
Stocks in Shanghai tumbled 6.6% for their worst loss since February 2020, when fears were rising about a virus seen in Wuhan and other cities in China. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 1.4% after dropping more than 9% from the day before, the worst loss since the global financial crisis of 2008.
Moves announced by China in late September fueled a rally that has since fizzled. But analysts have pointed out that a news conference on Tuesday by China’s main planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, was unlikely to convey much information about government spending, which is the purview of the Finance Ministry.
That ministry is due to hold a briefing on Saturday that could provide further details on planned government outlays that so far have fallen short of what investors have been hoping for.
The Shanghai Composite is still up 9.5% for the year so far, while Hong Kong’s index is up 21.1%.
Indexes were more stable elsewhere around the world on Wednesday and rose 0.9% in Japan and 1% in Germany.
In the oil market, prices eased further. A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.4% to settle at $73.24 after briefly topping $81 early this week. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 0.8% to $76.58 per barrel.
Earlier leaps for oil driven by worries about worsening tensions in the Middle East had helped drag the S&P on Monday to its worst loss in a month.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.07% from 4.01% late Tuesday.
Treasury yields have swung recently, first sharply downward through the spring and summer and then turning upward in the last week or so.
They have followed traders’ expectations for what the Federal Reserve is likely to do with overnight interest rates. The central bank has just begun cutting interest rates from a two-decade high, as it widens its focus to include keeping the economy moving instead of just fighting high inflation..
That caused the sharp easing of rates through the summer, but recent reports have shown the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected. That in turn has forced traders to downshift forecasts for how much the Fed will ultimately cut rates by.
The Fed on Wednesday released the minutes from its last policy meeting, which included few surprises. It reiterated the Fed’s message from September, emphasizing that its larger-than-usual cut of half a percentage point was not necessarily a signal of big cuts in the future.
The third-quarter earnings season begins this week with the following: yesterday – HELE higher; today – DAL higher and BLK, JPM, WFC lower to start.
Economic reports will have: yesterday – 2pm release of the minutes from the last F.O.M.C. meeting; today - September C.P.I. rose by 0.2%, weekly jobless claims gained 258K; Friday – September P.P.I., U. of Michigan mid-October Consumer Sentiment Survey.
