Two from Investor's Business Daily. First up the headline story:
Nasdaq Leads Positive Reversal; These 5 Growth Stocks Aim To Lead Next Uptrend
4:24 PM ET
Growth stocks made an impressive reversal on Monday, but the early sell-off in stocks briefly sent the key S&P 500 briefly below a November short-term low. Such action reaffirmed the increased whipsawing action on Wall Street.I'm not sure a restaurant and a couple retailers are going to lead the market. Although...
Meanwhile, fast-growing companies are fighting to hold near or at their long-term 200-day moving averages, such as retailers Five Below (FIVE) and Ulta Beauty (ULTA). Others, such as Atlassian (TEAM), ServiceNow (NOW) and turnaround restaurant play Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), are fighting to stay above their medium-term 50-day lines.
Leaderboard stock Verizon Communications (VZ) bounced bullishly off its 50-day moving average. It rose 1% to end a four-session selling streak. The megacap telecom play had broken out of a base on base with a 55.31 buy point.
The S&P 500, down as much as 1.9% in the early going, finished the rocky session up nearly 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite showed a similar swing, going from a 1.3% intraday meltdown to an advance of around 0.7%. The Nasdaq 100-tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF jumped 1%.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 0.2%. Volume edged higher on the NYSE and fell mildly on the Nasdaq, according to early data. The Dow utility average rose nearly 0.4%, but the Dow transports fell more than 0.7%.
The Nasdaq composite refused to undercut the 6830 low set on Nov. 20. The next session, the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose, marking Day 1 of a new rally attempt. Then on Nov. 28, the composite issued a Day 5 follow-through following comments by Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell on the future prospects for more rate hikes in 2019.
Interest Rate Hike Prospects Diminish
The heavy selling in stocks and corporate investment-grade bonds has been so severe that the CME Group now reports a less than 50% chance of a single quarter-point hike in the fed funds rate in all of 2019.
The U.S. central bank has raised short-term rates three times in both 2017 and in 2018. The Street still expects a fourth quarter-point jump in the fed funds rate at the end of this year's final FOMC meeting on Dec. 18-19.
Meanwhile, Apple (AAPL) staged a positive reversal, gaining less than 0.5% after hitting a session low of 163.33. At that price, the iPhone, Apple Watch and digital services giant has now fallen 30% from an all-time peak of 233.47.
Market breadth remained dour....MORE
Earlier today I was asked if I planned on shopping at Forever 21 in the near future.
Back to IBD, 50 minutes before the close:
Nasdaq Rallies, Dow Nearly Erases 505-Point Loss As Apple Reverses
3:09 PM ET
The stock market continued its volatile ways Monday as the key indexes turned mixed heading into the final hour of the regular trading session.
The Nasdaq led with a 0.5% gain after slumping 1.3% early. The S&P 500 pared its loss to 0.1%, and the Dow Jones industrial average was also down 0.1%. Blue chips staged a remarkable reversal — the Dow had dived as much as 505 points in early trade and was off only 34 points. The Russell 2000 was about flat
Volume was tracking higher on both the NYSE and Nasdaq vs. the same time Friday.
Big-cap techs boosted the Nasdaq and outperformed on the Dow. Microsoft (MSFT) rose 2.3% as it works on a base. Intel (INTC) and IBM (IBM) added nearly 2% each. Cisco (CSCO) advanced 1%, while Apple (AAPL) was up 0.6% after an upside reversal.
Apple sank as much as 3% in early trade after a China court ruled in favor of Qualcomm (QCOM), with which the iPhone maker is embroiled in a legal battle. Also weighing on Apple: Citi cut its price target to 200 from 240, citing sales weakness in China among the reasons. Apple remains 13% below its 200-day moving average and is 27% off its early-October peak.
Chip design, software and solar stocks led the upside among sector gainers in the stock market today. But energy, airfreight transporters and specialty retailers lagged. A 1.5% slide in West Texas Intermediate crude prices weighed on oil stocks. As such, Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) weighed on the Dow Jones industrials with respective losses of 2.1% and 1.1%.
Chips Lead Stock Market Today
Qualcomm, up 2%, boosted chip stocks. Avago (AVGO) reversed from an early drop to a 4.5% gain to retake its 50-day and 200-day lines. Graphics chip designer Nvidia (NVDA) rose nearly 3%.
Leading software stocks advanced in the IBD 50. Security software maker Fortinet (FTNT) popped 4%, Atlassian (TEAM) added 3.4% to rebound off its 50-day line, and VMware (VMW) gained 2.4%....MORE
