Dow Jones futures rose modestly early Tuesday, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures as coronavirus cases slow.
The stock market rally powered to fresh highs Monday, fueled by trillion-dollar stocks Microsoft, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet, with Microsoft stock passing Apple stock in terms of market cap. All four tech giants rose slightly early Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Slack fell sharply in extended trade, giving up much of Monday's 15% gain as it clarified its relationship with IBM. RingCentral, XPO Logistics and Steris all rose overnight on earnings, with XPO Logistics stock and Steris stock signaling moves into buy zones.
MercadoLibre and Mimecast retreated on earnings, but were well off initial overnight lows.
Microsoft continues its near-vertical run, rising 2.6% to 188.70 in Monday's stock market trading to a new high. Microsoft stock has shot up 18% since its Jan. 27 intraday low. Apple stock climbed 0.5%. Microsoft stock now has the bigger market cap at $1.435 trillion vs. Apple stock at $1.407 trillion. Both Microsoft stock and Apple stock lag the valuation of Saudi Aramco, the Saudi state-oil giant.
As for the other trillion-dollar stocks, Amazon stock rallied 2.6% and Google stock 2%, both hitting new highs. Amazon stock recently passed fellow FANG member Google stock in terms of market cap, $1.062 trillion to $1.037 trillion.
Sprint stock skyrocketed 65% early Tuesday as a federal district judge approved the Sprint merger with T-Mobile US. T-Mobile stock rose nearly 9%, signaling a breakout. AT&T and Verizon climbed modestly.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures were 0.4% above fair value, along with S&P 500 futures. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5%. Microsoft stock and Amazon stock rose about 1% before the open, while Apple stock and Google stock rose slightly. Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn't necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
Coronavirus deaths now top 1,000, but the number of new cases appears to be slowing. China announced 2,478 new cases on Feb. 10, the smallest increase since Jan. 31. The U.S. confirmed its 13th infection.
Current Stock Market Rally
The current stock market rally continued to advance following last week's big weekly gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.6%. The S&P 500 index rose 0.7% and the Nasdaq composite 1.1%, both hitting all-time highs as Microsoft stock, Google stock and Amazon stock rose 2% or more.
Growth stocks led. Among the best ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF rose 1.3%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF added 1.2% to a new closing high. Microsoft stock is a big IGV holding. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF climbed 1.6%.
Slack Stock Slacks Off After Big WORK Day
On Monday, Slack stock leapt 15% to 26.65, hitting a five-month high in the heaviest volume since its June 20, 2019, IPO debut. The trigger was a Business Insider report that IBM was deploying Slack's collaboration software to all its employees, becoming the 2019 IPO stock's biggest customer yet.
But after the close, Slack said IBM has been its biggest customer for years. The company said it wasn't updating guidance for its Q4 2020 quarter that ended Jan. 31.
Slack stock fell 7% early Tuesday, giving up nearly half of Monday's gains.
XPO Logistics Stock
XPO Logistics earnings jumped 56% to $1.12 a share, the third straight quarter of accelerating growth. But revenue fell 5.7%, worse than views and the fourth quarterly decline in a row.
XPO Logistics stock rose 2.2% to 96.25 early Tuesday. That signals a move above a 96.20 buy point. XPO Logistics stock climbed 1% to 94.17 on Monday.
Steris Stock
Steris earnings rose 15% to $1.45 a share adjusted for fiscal Q3. Sales of $774.3 million also topped, with growth picking up slightly to 11%. The infection prevention and procedural surgical products and services firm nudged up full-year views.
Steris stock rose 2% to 157 overnight, indicating a move above a 155.17 buy point from a flat base, according to MarketSmith analysis. Steris stock rose 0.7% to 153.88 on Monday.
Please follow Ed Carson on Twitter via @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.
