The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 staged strong recoveries while the Nasdaq managed a slight gain at the market close Wednesday. Yields fell to a new low and gold hit a new high amid signs of a flight to safety. And Alphabet tumbled on the stock market today on word of a big spending plan, but shares found support at an important technical level.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average turned an early deficit to a gain of 317 points, or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 reversed to register a 0.4% rise. The Nasdaq managed to recover from a steep early loss to eke out a 0.2% gain at Wednesday's close.
Nvidia and Amgen led the Dow's gains, up 5.4% and 6.5%, respectively. Super Micro Computer and Fiserv were among the S&P's biggest winners. Super Micro jumped 8% while Fiserv lurched more than 7% higher.
Volume was higher vs. the same time Tuesday on both the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange. Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by roughly 2-to-1 on both exchanges.
The yield on the key U.S. Treasury 10-year bond dropped to 4.43% after touching a new 2025 low.
Gold rose 0.2% to $2,882 an ounce following a news conference held by President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the conference, Trump suggested that the U.S. could take control of the Gaza strip to redevelop the region following the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.
Small Caps, IBD 50 Outperform
Small caps on the Russell 2000 made steady progress throughout the morning session and finished 0.9% higher on the day. The index reclaimed its 50-day moving average on Wednesday.
But the Innovator IBD 50 exchange traded fund outperformed, jumping more than 2%. Grail soared by more than 21% while Celestica surged by nearly 9%. Both stocks are well extended from buy points.
MicroStrategy dropped more than 3% as the massive corporate bitcoin holder headed into earnings on Wednesday. Shares are below the 50-day moving average. MicroStrategy's chart also shows some weakness after the 21-day moving average fell below the 50-day line.
2:55 p.m. ET
Super Micro Computer Rises, FMC Plunges
Wednesday also witnessed a few earnings-fueled sell signals. Insecticide producer FMC plummeted below its 50-day moving average and undercut a base after issuing a flat revenue outlook for 2025.
Though this was an early-stage base, a declining relative strength line and a bearish warning when FMC's 50-day line crossed below the 200-day moving average were signs of weakening action even before earnings on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Super Micro Computer jumped after the AI server company announced that it offered the infrastructure to scale Nvidia's Blackwell chip through a range of air-cooled and liquid-cooled systems and multiple central processing unit options.
On Tuesday, the stock gained 9% after the company said it would provide a second-quarter business update on Feb. 11.
1:28 p.m. ET
Stock Market Today: New Leaders, New Buy Points Emerge
Also on Wednesday, Mueller Water and Fiserv staged fresh breakouts.
Mueller posted big gains in December-quarter results — earnings up 92% to 25 cents a share, revenue up 19% to $304.3 million vs. year-ago levels — and catapulted past a 26.28 buy point in a three-month cup without handle. Shares surged as volume jumped to seven times its usual level. Mueller has a Composite Rating of 93 out of a best-possible 99.
The 5% buy zone from a 26.28 buy point goes up to 27.59.
Fiserv, a former member of IBD Long Term Leaders, was also a hot topic on Wednesday's IBD Live session. Shares in the payments and financial technology titan gapped up at the open and rushed past a 223.23 entry in a shallow 10-week flat base.
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Fiserv's profit rose 15% in the fourth quarter, marking at the least the eighth reporting period in a row of steady double-digit earnings growth. Sales picked up 7% to $5.25 billion, the fourth straight quarter of 7% gains.
Based in Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv has 568.9 million shares outstanding and a market value of $130 billion. Within Fiserv's base, on a weekly chart, it shows two weeks of gains in heavy volume vs. one downside week in above-average turnover. That's bullish.
Watch to see if the stock's Accumulation/Distribution Rating, currently a neutral C, improves in the next few days. An A score signifies heavy institutional buying over the past 13 weeks while a score of E warns of heavy selling.
12:36 p.m. ET
Some Investors Cry 'Bloody Murder'
"I still think the market is pretty constructive," Mark Minervini, a two-time winner of the U.S. Investing Championships, said during Wednesday's morning episode of IBD Live.
The reason? Minervini commented that participants on the stock market today seemed to be crying "bloody murder" despite the fact that most major indexes are not so far off their 52-week or all-time peaks. The recent choppy action has certainly made investors skittish. Such action pushes some money to the sidelines, which means those investors potentially could return back to the market and become buyers.
Meanwhile, bullishness as measured by secondary indicators has come off extreme levels.
For instance, IBD Market Trend shows a bullish ratio among surveyed newsletter editors of 47% recently, down from 64.2% back in July 2024.
Stock Market Today: Google Stock Takes A Beating
In stocks, Alphabet sold off after its fourth-quarter sales missed Wall Street estimates for $96.67 billion, and shares tumbled. The web search giant and cloud computing firm also predicted a larger-than-expected increase in infrastructure spending to build up its artificial intelligence capabilities.
Volume jumped more than 200%, exceeding Google stock's average over the past 50 sessions. This signaled heavy institutional selling.
That said, despite the sharp gap-down, institutions bullish on Alphabet appear to be shoring up support in Google stock at the rising 50-day moving average.
After a breakout from a well-formed base and nice short-term run-up, a rebound off the 50-day line or the 10-week moving average serves as a secondary buy point. However, risk of loss increases during choppy market conditions or during a market in correction.
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How Broadcom Is Finding A New Entry Point
As an example, Broadcom recently found support at its own 50-day line, which means the stock is triggering a follow-on entry. On Wednesday, shares bolted higher, keeping its uptrend intact.
The stock recently broke out of a shallow base with a 185.05 buy point. Broadcom is up 7% for the week, recouping much of the prior week's 9% slide.
The leading megacap semiconductor stock holds a best-possible 99 Composite Rating. Broadcom's relative strength line also looks healthy, despite moving sideways in recent weeks.
The IBD current outlook suggests an exposure level of 60%-80% in the stock market today.
11 a.m. ET
Stock Market Today: Mattel Breaks Out
Elsewhere, Mattel blasted higher in strong volume. The company notched a 21% jump in fourth-quarter profit to 35 cents a share on slight revenue growth.
Notice on a monthly chart that the owner of the popular Barbie doll and Hot Wheels toy car franchises is breaking a three-year downtrend. That arguably creates an aggressive entry point near 20.
A weekly chart, meanwhile, shows that the midcap stock has been forming a large, deep first-stage base. But inside that base, Mattel stock has cleared a 13-week consolidation that offers a 20.60 entry point.
The 5% buy zone in this base goes from 20.60 to 21.63. Thus, Mattel is in buy range.
Please follow Chung on X/Twitter: @saitochung and @IBD_DChung
