The major stock indexes weren't moving much in afternoon trading Friday, one day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped the 40,000 level for the first time ever. The Nasdaq composite was relatively quiet on the stock market today after a mild distribution session on Thursday.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq had confirmed a new uptrend Wednesday with a follow-through day. Normally, a distribution day isn't good to see so soon after a follow-through day. But growing speculation in low-priced speculative stocks has skewed Nasdaq volume. Faraday Future Intelligent Electric, for example, more than doubled Thursday to 1.65 a share on volume of 1.1 billion shares. Shares were up sharply again Friday.
Meanwhile, online platform Reddit jumped more than 10% after the company announced a partnership with Microsoft-backed OpenAI. The social media site will give OpenAI access to Reddit's Data API, letting the artificial intelligence startup learn from Reddit content in real time.
GameStop plunged around 25% after the company filed to sell up to 45 million class A common shares. GameStop also said it expects first-quarter revenue of $872 million to $892 million, below analyst predictions of slightly more than $1 billion. Fellow meme stock AMC Entertainment announced a share offering earlier in the week.
After three straight gains, Advanced Micro Devices fell off highs after an early pop. Shares were strong early on reports Microsoft will offer its cloud customers the option of using artificial intelligence chips from AMD, instead of solely relying on Nvidia AI processors. But AMD pared early gains as it tries to reclaim its 50-day moving average.
Stock Market Today
Just after 1 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite were mixed and mostly unchanged. The Dow hovered near 39,900, and didn't venture back toward the 40,000 level that it touched Thursday.
It's the third Friday of the month, which means options expire today. That could result in higher volume by the close. But volume on the NYSE and Nasdaq was slightly lower compared to the same time Thursday.
Winners and losers were evenly matched on the Nasdaq. The ratio was slightly positive on the NYSE.
Get Alerts To Stocks Near Buy Points With Leaderboard
At the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures edged higher to around $79.55 a barrel. The 10-year Treasury yield added 4 basis points to around 4.42% after a visit to its 200-day moving average Thursday.
In earnings news, chip-equipment bellwether Applied Materials reversed lower despite a beat-and-raise earnings report. Applied Materials cleared a flat base in heavy volume Wednesday, then reversed lower with the broad market Thursday. A 214.91 entry is still in play.
Nvidia slipped 1% ahead of next week's earnings report. Results are due Wednesday after the close. Nvidia is expected to report another quarter of explosive bottom-line and top-line growth. Analysts polled by FactSet call for adjusted profit of $5.22 a share, up 474% year over year. Revenue is expected to more than triple to $24.5 billion.
Growth Stocks On The Move
China-based PDD was a top gainer in the Nasdaq 100, up around 2% ahead of next week's earnings report. Results are due early Wednesday. PPD is near the top of the 5% buy zone after clearing a 142.32 handle entry earlier in the week.
Inside the MarketSurge Growth 250, Robinhood Markets soared more than 10% on the stock market today, helped by an upgrade from BofA Securities to buy from underperform. Robinhood rose to the top of a seven-week consolidation and is just below a 20.55 entry.
In the security software group, CrowdStrike rallied nearly 2% as it continues work on the right side of a cup base. The stock has climbed to within 5% of its all-time high.
Newmont Mining rallied along with other gold stocks. The Leaderboard stock is trying to clear a 43.91 entry. Eldorado Gold and Alamos Gold were other top gainers in the MarketSurge Growth 250.
The IBD 50 also served up some gainers, including Pan American Silver. Shares jumped more than 3%. It's now extended now from a 20.60 entry.
GigaCloud Technology was another top gainer in the IBD 50, up nearly 2%. But the provider of B2B e-commerce solutions for large-parcel merchandise still has a ways to go to get to an alternate entry of 41.31.
Follow Ken Shreve on X @IBD_KShreve for more stock market analysis and insight.
