Dow Jones futures rose modestly Wednesday morning, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Dow giant Salesforce.com led strong earnings overnight. Nvidia signaled a move back above a buy point.
The stock market rally had a quiet Tuesday. The Nasdaq hit a fresh high while the Dow Jones and Russell 2000 fell. Meta Platforms broke out in strong volume.
Among hot AI plays, Credo Technology Group skyrocketed on earnings and blowout guidance. That also lift rival Astera Labs. Palantir Technologies jumped on positive news.
Tesla fell slightly. A Delaware judge late Monday refused to reinstate a massive pay package for Elon Musk.
Nvidia stock and Meta are on IBD Leaderboard, with Astera Labs stock on the Leaderboard watchlist. Meta stock is on SwingTrader. Astera Labs and Palantir stock are on the IBD 50.
The video embedded in the article reviews Tuesday's stock market action and analyzes Credo stock, Meta Platforms and Emcor Group.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures rose 0.4% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures climbed 0.3%. Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.7%. Salesforce stock is a Dow Jones and S&P 500 giant.
The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.26%.
The ADP Employment Report showed private jobs grew by 146,000 in November, slightly below estimates. The ISM services index is due at 10 a.m. ET. Fed chief Jerome Powell speaks Wednesday afternoon.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn't necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
Earnings
Salesforce, Okta, Marvell Technology, Pure Storage and Box reported Tuesday night.
Salesforce stock surged overnight. It's set to gap out of a buy zone and but perhaps actionable from a high handle. Marvell stock is set to soar after closing in range of a shelf just above a base. Pure Storage stock, which had lagged, is set to vault above aggressive entries, almost to new highs. Okta is rebounding powerfully from a long slide, and could move up to possible entries around the 100 level.
Box stock fell modestly after closing in buy range.
Marvell competes against Credo Tech and Astera Labs in some areas.
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Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally had a narrowly mixed session. Stronger-than-expected October job openings and a short-lived South Korea martial law declaration had little impact.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2% in Tuesday's stock market trading. The S&P 500 index climbed a fraction, with Palantir stock the top performer. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. The small-cap Russell 2000 fell 0.7%, still close to record highs.
Losers outpaced winners, with Meta, Nvidia and a few other big techs masking underlying weakness.
Tesla stock fell 1.6% to 351.42 from a two-year closing high. Shares are pausing not far below the all-time high of 414.50 set in late 2021.
U.S. crude oil prices popped 2.7% to $69.94 a barrel on expectations that OPEC+ will extend output cuts.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose 3 basis points to 4.22%.
ETFs
Among growth ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF and the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF rose 0.9%. CRM stock is a major holding while Palantir and Box also are in the ETF. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF edged up 0.2%%. Nvidia stock is the dominant SMH holding while Marvell stock also is a member.
ARK Innovation ETF declined 0.8% and ARK Genomics ETF tumbled 3.7%. Tesla stock is a major holding across Ark Invest's ETFs with Cathie Wood also building up a big Nvidia stake.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF edged up 0.3% and the Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF dipped 0.3%. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF also stepped down 0.3%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF lost a fraction and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund declined 0.25%.
The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund retreated 0.6%.
The Financial Select SPDR ETF fell 0.7%.
Time The Market With IBD's ETF Market Strategy
Meta Stock
The Facebook and Instagram parent popped 3.5% to 613.65, clearing a 602.95 flat-base buy point. Meta stock rebounded above the 50-day line on Monday, offering an early entry.
Nvidia Stock
Shares rose 1% in premarket trading, just above the 140.76 buy point and 21-day line.
On Tuesday, Nvidia stock climbed 1.2% to 140.26, still stuck between the 21-day and 50-day moving averages.
The AI giant could be on the cusp of making a new bullish move, but could easily flash bearish signals with a decisive move below the 50-day.
Nvidia chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor on Tuesday continued this week's move from the 50-day line, offering an aggressive entry within a shallow cup base as part of a base-on-base formation.
Credo, Palantir
Credo Tech stock spiked 48% on Tuesday. Earnings and especially guidance crushed views, with Credo's CEO citing an AI "inflection point." Investors at this point could wait to see if CRDO stock holds its gains and consolidates over a few days or weeks.
Rival Astera Labs jumped nearly 13%, hitting a new high intraday.
Palantir stock leaped 6.9% setting a new high. The federal government gave the data analytics and AI play's entire product suite authorization for secure cloud-computing services.
What To Do Now
The stock market rally is right at record highs. Leading stocks are acting well, though many are already greatly extended such as Astera Labs and Palantir. Investors can nibble at new breakouts such as Meta Platforms or other buying opportunities. But it's still a time to holding heavy exposure vs. making aggressive moves.
Keep running screens, looking for emerging setups and sector rotations. Also have your exit strategies ready.
Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.
Please follow Ed Carson on Threads at @edcarson1971 and X/Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.
