Stocks struggled to recover Wednesday, a day after the market took some hard knocks, following a new monthly report on job openings that affirmed true signs of a slowing economy. Nvidia turned lower again amid regulatory concerns, three days after triggering a profit-taking sell rule. But several stocks outside tech gained ground as investors looked for bargains among blue chips on the stock market today.
After sinking 1.5% on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached an intraday peak of 41,172 for a gain of 0.6%. Then it seesawed between positive and negative ground, and eventually finished with a small gain of less than 0.1%. The 30-stock blue-chip index held bullishly above its short-term 21-day exponential moving average.
Since July 1, the Dow has a 4.8% gain. Yet the Dow Jones lags the Nasdaq and S&P 500 in terms of year-to-date performance.
Among the other indexes, the Nasdaq composite sank as much as 0.9%, but pared that back to a 0.3% decline after its 3.3% hammering on Tuesday.
Stock Market Today: S&P Dips
The S&P 500 tried, but failed to rebound and was off 0.2% at the close. An equal-weighted version of the S&P 500, Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight, also lost midmorning gains and was 0.1% lower after a 1.3% loss the prior session.
Technically, the S&P 500 is gaining support at 5,500, a psychologically important round number for the index. The 50-day moving average, meanwhile, has risen from 5,460 at the end of June to 5,506 on Wednesday.
Volume was running lower vs. the same time on Tuesday for both on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange. Nonetheless, the stock market has shown a more defensive flavor, as explained in Tuesday's Big Picture. The signature IBD analysis on the stock market also highlights some reasons for caution.
Elsewhere, WTI crude oil futures sank 2.1% to $68.86 a barrel. And the yield on the benchmark U.S. Treasury bond slumped for a second day in a row. It fell eight basis points to 3.76%.
Insulet Clears Early-Stage Base
As noted in the Breaking Out Today screen in MarketSurge, diabetes care play Insulet defied the stock market decline. Shares in the maker of insulin delivery systems shot 2.8% higher to close at 212.51, climbing above a 209.35 entry point in an early-stage cuplike base.
Volume rushed more than 120% higher than the stock's average turnover over the past 50 sessions. Heavy volume on a breakout day signals very active participation among mutual funds, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Last week, Insulet also crossed a trendline entry near 200 amid a 9.6% weekly gain in accelerating turnover. That hinted at a bullish change in character for Insulet shares in the stock market.
Notice on a daily chart how Insulet has now chalked up three up days in unusually heavy volume since last week. The stock lies within the 5% buy zone from 209.35. The relative strength line marked a seven-month high, a bullish turn. Back in 2020, Insulet posted a profit of a dime a share, down 47% vs. a year earlier. This year, Insulet is on track to earn $3 per share and grow earnings 28% next year to $3.85.
Insulet now has a market cap of $15 billion, big enough to qualify for IBD Big Cap 20. In the past four quarters, Insulet's sales cruised 27%, 38%, 23% and 23% ahead of year-ago levels. Strong sales tend to generate outstanding profits.
According to IBD Stock Checkup, Insulet gets a solid 95 Composite Rating. However, it ranks just 11th within the vast medical products industry group. Watch to see if its 80 RS Rating improves quickly.
Stock Market Today: Nvidia Loses Luster
Within the Nasdaq, AI chip technology leader Nvidia gave up earlier gains and ended the day down 1.7%. The megacap tech has now dropped nearly 25% below its all-time split-adjusted high of 140.76 amid reports that antitrust regulators are taking a closer look at the company's business practices.
While reports said subpoenas were issued in the case, Nvidia denied receiving one relating to the antitrust probe.
Nvidia has traded below its 50-day moving average for the fourth straight day. The sharp drop through the 50-day line on Thursday marked a defensive sell signal for recent buyers.
While Nvidia still shows an excellent 96 Relative Strength Rating, MarketSurge shows the three-month RS score for the market leader has shrunk to a dismal 12 on a scale of 1 to 99. That said, long-term holders with a large gain could decide to hold shares through its basing process, which has now entered its third month since peaking on June 20 at 140.76.
According to IBD Stock Checkup, Nvidia ranks fourth overall within the fabless semiconductor industry group on the stock market today with a 92 Composite Rating. It currently ranks lower than Cirrus Logic, Broadcom and Monolithic Power, featured in IBD's Long-Term Leaders column.
Earnings estimates remain strong for Nvidia, which now has a market cap of $2.67 trillion.
FactSet shows a fiscal year earnings estimate of $2.82 a share, up 117% from $1.30 in the year ended in January, and a fiscal 2026 profit view of $4.02, up 43%. Both forecasts have gotten revised higher following Nvidia's fiscal second-quarter results. Profit rose 152% to 68 cents a share, revenue 122% to $30 billion.
2:37 p.m. ET
Winners, Losers On The Dow
On Wednesday, at least two members of the Dow rose two points or more, including IBD Long-Term Leader UnitedHealth and Travelers. Goldman Sachs, cloud computing and tech services titan IBM and McDonald's moved at least 1 point higher. IBM is one among eight Dow industrial stocks that hold a Relative Strength Rating of 85 or higher.
But seven other Dow stocks slipped 2 points or more, including construction and home-improvement products chain Home Depot and laggard energy play Chevron.
Chevron, down as much as 1.9% and posting an intraday low of 141.81 in heavy trading, has traced a series of lower highs and lower lows since its failed breakout past a long saucer with handle that presented a 163.87 proper buy point.
When the stock pierced its 50-day line weeks after the April breakout and fell 7% from the buy point, Chevron also triggered the golden rule of keeping losses small. Chevron's earnings estimates have gotten shaved to $11.69 a share this year, down 10%, and $13.61 for 2025, up 16%.
Market Fights At Key Levels, Nvidia Keeps Falling
Stock Market Today: SharkNinja Hits Profit-Taking Territory
In more positive news, SharkNinja made the upside section of Stocks On The Move, a timely screen for scouting breakouts on the stock market.
Shares in the home appliance marketer rose nearly 3% and reached the 20%-25% profit zone after clearing a flat base with an 80.81 buy point in August. SharkNinja joined Leaderboard initially as an earnings call option play. The stock is up more than 91% year to date.
Leading stocks that got hammered on the stock market today included cybersecurity firm Zscaler, which reported solid quarterly earnings, and Myriad Genetics, which undercut its 50-day line in volume running more than 80% above its 50-day average. ZS, trading near 156, has plunged 40% below its year-to-date peak of 259.61.
Myriad, a highly volatile stock in the medical research equipment industry group, surrendered all the gains from a breakout past 25.95. However, its uptrend since October remains intact. The relative strength line, which compares a stock's daily price action vs. the S&P 500, tanked to the lowest level since early July.
A healthy RS line tends to rise together with the underlying stock. Myriad, a smallcap with a market value of $2.3 billion, still enjoys a gain of nearly 31% year to date. Analysts surveyed by FactSet see the expert in cancer diagnostic tools posting earnings of 10 cents a share this year vs. a net loss of 27 cents in 2023 and profits growing 186% next year to 28 cents a share. Revenue looks headed to exceed $800 million on a trailing four-quarter basis.
Zscaler, down more than 17%, plunged to the bottom of its current base that began when it peaked at 259.61 on Feb. 9. Zscaler gave a fiscal 2025 outlook that underwhelmed investors.
11:56 a.m. ET
A New Market Leader
Travelers, part of the stock market leading insurance sector, gained for the eighth time in nine sessions. At the session high of 231.77, Travelers is approaching the left-side peak of 232.75 in a five-month base. The large-cap financial play also surpassed an early entry at 224.76.
The 5% buy zone from 224.76 goes up to 235.99; thus, Travelers remains in buy range.
10:46 a.m. ET
Job Openings Tumble
Investors reacted rather mildly to news that U.S. job openings in July plunged to 7.673 million, sharply below the Econoday forecast of 8.1 million. It also fell from June's revised openings of 7.91 million jobs. Meanwhile, factory orders in July jumped 5% vs. the prior month, higher than views for a 4.6% gain.
On the upside in the stock market today, Warren Buffett's holding company Berkshire Hathaway added 1% and made a new high of 484.82. Last week, Berkshire reached the $1 trillion milestone in stock market value.
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