The Dow Jones Industrial Average and other indexes closed lower as a new front opened in the battle between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Walt Disney. ON Semiconductor was boosted on results, lifting Nvidia in the process. JPMorgan Chase passed an entry as it gobbled up First Republic Bank.
A trio of stocks tested buy points amid the positive action. Comfort Systems USA, Weatherford and Howmet Aerospace all tried to break out.
Treasury yields were gaining once again. The 10-year yield rose 13 basis point to 3.59% while the two-year yield spiked eight basis points to 4.14%. The yield curve remains inverted.
Nasdaq Up As IBD 50 Lags
The Nasdaq saw gains fade as it ended the day down 0.1%. Microchip Technology impressed here with a gain of 3.3%.
The benchmark S&P 500 fared better, closing basically flat despite a slight decline. Norwegian Cruise Line sailed 8.9% higher on better-than-expected results.
The S&P 500 sectors closed mixed. Utilities, health care and industrials were the top performers. Energy and consumer discretionary were the worst areas.
Small caps fared better than the major indexes, with the Russell 2000 rallying late to close flat. The Innovator IBD 50 ETF was very slightly negative.
Dow Jones Today: Intel Stock Lags, Nike Shines
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 46 points, or just over 0.1%.
Outside of JPMorgan, Nike and Merck were the best gainers. NKE rose 0.9% while MRK advanced 0.8%.
Microchip giant Intel was the worst stock on the Dow Jones today, falling about 2.5%. It is managing to hold above its short-term moving averages, MarketSmith analysis shows.
Disney Stock Whipsaws As DeSantis Battle Steps Up
Another Dow Jones stock hit the headlines Monday. The board picked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee the Walt Disney World district has voted to sue the company.
The board is striking back after the "Star Wars" owner filed its own federal lawsuit last week, claiming to be the victim of political retaliation by DeSantis.
"Disney sued us; we have no choice now but to respond," board Chairman Martin Garcia said. "This district will seek justice in state court here in central Florida, where both it and Disney reside and do business."
Disney and DeSantis are battling over control of a special tax district that has allowed Disney to self-govern the land that includes Walt Disney World Resort since the 1960s.
Disney stock closed off session lows but still ceded 0.3%. Disney stock is holding just above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
JPMorgan Stock Tests Buy Point Amid First Republic Deal
JPMorgan attempted a break out on the news that Federal regulators have agreed to sell the bulk of First Republic's operations and assets to JPMorgan.
The banking behemoth is to assume $92 billion of First Republic's insured and uninsured deposits.
This includes the $30 billion in deposits from JPMorgan and other big banks that attempted to prevent the embattled bank from collapsing. Those deposits will be repaid post-close or eliminated in consolidation.
In addition, JPMorgan, which is helmed by CEO Jamie Dimon, is also buying most of the bank's assets. These include $173 billion in loans and $30 billion in securities.
JPM stock closed up 2.2%. It ended just below a buy zone after briefly clearing a cup-with-handle entry of 141.88. The 5% buy range tops out at 148.97.
JPMorgan has an IBD Composite Rating of 95. Both its earnings and stock market performance are strong.
Onsemi Earnings Boost Leader
Shares of ON Semiconductor, also known as Onsemi, cleared views for the first quarter early Monday. EPS of $1.19 was better than analyst views for $1.08, despite a year-over-year decline of 2%. A 1% increase in revenue to $1.96 billion was also above expectations for $1.92 billion.
ON Semiconductor stock powered through its 50-day moving average as it gained 8.9%. Last week it found support at the 200-day line.
Leaderboard stock Nvidia also seemed to get a lift from the strong results, rising 4.2%. NVDA, which is extended, pulled away from its 21-day exponential moving average. It has found support at its 10-week moving average.
Outside Dow Jones: Three Stocks Test Entries
While the market uptrend has come under pressure, it is still important to keep an eye on breakouts.
Comfort Systems USA is back below its buy zone after briefly clearing a consolidation-pattern entry of 152.23. The chart also can be interpreted to be a double bottom with a 147.78 buy point, and the stock is above that.
Earnings are a particular strength for the air-conditioning play. It holds a near-perfect EPS Rating of 98 out of 99.
Weatherford is just below its entry after testing a cup-with-handle buy point of 65.63. It is in the top 2% of stocks in terms of price performance over the past 12 months.
Howmet Aerospace is trading near a cup-base entry of 44.47 on its weekly chart. The maker of metal products for aerospace has an IBD Composite Rating of 97.
Please follow Michael Larkin on Twitter at @IBD_MLarkin for more analysis of growth stocks.
