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Stock Market News: Dow Rises, Building on Record High
S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also rally to record territory.
Last Updated:
March 21, 2024 at 8:05 PM EDT
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Stocks rallied to record highs again Thursday.
Apple stock, however, fell after the Justice Department and several states filed a broad antitrust lawsuit against the company.
Reddit stock soared in its trading debut, and Micron Technology shares surged after earnings, which provided a lift for chip stock peers.
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The big three indexes closed at record highs on Thursday despite an antitrust lawsuit taking a bite out of Apple stock.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 270 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500 was up 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.2%.
All three hit record closes on the same day for the first time since 2021 on Wednesday, so their moves higher on Thursday marked fresh highs.
Shares of Apple slid after the Department of Justice sued the firm, alleging the iPhone maker has maintained a monopoly in the smartphone market. Because Apple is the second-largest S&P 500 firm in terms of market capitalization, its moves have a higher weight on the index.
Micron Technology shares surged after the firm's latest earnings report showed strong demand from artificial intelligence firms. That gave a boost to chip stock peers, and the tech sector in general.
The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF, which weighs Apple the same as any other S&P 500 stock, was up 0.7%.
Stocks rallied after the Federal Open Market Committee left a June rate hike on the table at its Wednesday meeting. The market also got a boost from a surprise rate cut from the Swiss National Bank.
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee points out that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell pushed back on the suggestion January and February inflation figures showed a change to the declining trend of inflation.
That, paired with expectations for three rate cuts this year, makes the Fed look more dovish than the market might have expected, according to Lee.
“Once the market begins to see the Fed as dovish, a lot of things can happen,” Lee writes. “These include easing financial conditions, market expansion, breadth expansion, improved consumer confidence, improved CEO confidence, and falling interest and mortgage rates. In our view, these are all good for stocks.”
Treasury yields have a mixed day amid increasing bets that the U.S. Fed would start cutting interest rates in June.
The 10-year declines slightly to 4.270%, while the two-year rises 0.026 percentage point to 4.630%.
On the CME's FedWatch tool, odds of another Fed hold in May and of a 25-basis point cut in June remain the prevailing bet. Markets are pricing a total of 75 basis points in cuts this year, which coincides with the Fed's projection.
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Crude oil futures settle slightly lower, consolidating after yesterday's selloff from nearly five-month highs earlier in the week.
"We are expecting a firm finish to this week," Ritterbusch says in a note. "Although the rig counts will likely suggest a recovery in production, we will be placing a greater focus on the weekly commitment of traders report where another sizable increase in net speculative WTI length would appear highly likely given the approximate $5 a barrel price advance within the latest COT period."
WTI for May delivery, the new front month, settles down 0.2%, at $81.07 a barrel, and Brent slips 0.2%, to $85.78.