The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed near session lows Friday, hurt in part by growing fears of a government shutdown. Published reports said that a temporary spending bill from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has little chance of passing.
The 10-year Treasury yield hit an intraday low of around 4.51%, but was trading around 4.58% just after 4 p.m. ET.
The U.S. dollar also pared losses, which brought sellers into the stock market today. The Invesco DB U.S. Dollar Bullish ETF reversed higher for a gain of nearly 0.1%.
Nike was a big winner in the Dow Jones today, up nearly 7% after the company beat on earnings but slightly missed on revenue. There were plenty of positives in the report, though, including better-than-expected gross margin of 44.2% as well as revenue increases in markets like China and the Europe/Middle East/Africa regions.
Walgreens was another big winner in the Dow Jones with a gain of 6.5%. But WBA stock is still on a lengthy downtrend, marred by an Accumulation/Distribution Rating of E, the worst possible. The rating is hurt by several above-average price declines for WBA since the second half of June.
Outside the Dow Jones
After rising 1.4% intraday, the Nasdaq composite eked out a 0.1% gain.
Preliminary data showed slightly higher volume on the Nasdaq. Volume drifted lower on the NYSE.
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Advancing stocks had a slight edge over decliners on the Nasdaq. Breadth was slightly negative on the NYSE.
Besides NKE and WBA in the Dow Jones, several other stocks showed solid gains.
Security software firm Zscaler held up well in the Nasdaq 100 and rose 3% after joining the Leaders list earlier in the session. The Leaderboard model portfolio is less than 40% invested with the stock market still in a correction.
Meta Platforms came close to its recent high of 312.87 and looked like it was ready to break out of a downtrend. But META stock reversed lower for a loss of 1.25%.
The S&P 500, up nearly 0.8% at one point, reversed lower for a loss of 0.3%. A sell-off in oil and gas stocks like SLB, Valero Energy and Baker Hughes weighed on the index. All three closed with losses of more than 3.5%, with WTI crude oil futures down 0.9% to just below $91 a barrel.
Inflation data from the August personal income and spending report fueled solid gains early for the major stock indexes. Year over year, the core personal consumption expenditures index rose 3.9%, in line with views and the lowest since Sept. 2021. But it's still well above the Federal Reserve's inflation target of 2%.
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Growth Stocks On The Move
Inside the MarketSmith Growth 250, Duolingo staged a powerful breakout early in the session. But a double-digit percentage gain faded to 4.2%.
Software firm Vertex, meanwhile, held up well after a nice close off lows Thursday. Shares jumped nearly 3%. VERX stock closed just above a 23.03 entry.
Inside the IBD 50, software firm Braze along with FTI Aviation continue to trade well.
BRZE is holding support at its 10-week line as it sits just above an alternate entry of 45.72. FTAI is in an alternate buy zone as it tests support at the 10-week line for the first time.
Dow Jones stock Salesforce, tracked in the enterprise software group along with Braze, gave back an early gain after getting turned away at its 10-day line.
Follow Ken Shreve on Twitter @IBD_KShreve for more stock market analysis and insight.
