Dow Jones futures were little changed early Friday, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures, with the November jobs report on tap Friday morning. Broadcom and Lululemon Athletica headlined earnings after the close.
The stock market rally rebounded Thursday, with big-cap techs leading a broad advance. The major indexes are all close to 52-week highs.
Advanced Micro Devices and Google parent Alphabet jumped Thursday in day two reactions to their big artificial intelligence announcements. Those AI efforts will help them take on Nvidia and Microsoft, respectively.
AMD stock roared above multiple buy points while Google flirted with an early entry. NVDA stock also rose, around key levels. Microsoft stock edged higher within a buy zone.
In addition to AMD, megacaps Apple, Amazon.com and Meta Platforms also reclaimed buy points. Tesla continued its bounce from the 50-day line, nearing a buy point.
Amazon stock, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia are on IBD Leaderboard. Nvidia and Apple stock are on SwingTrader. MSFT stock is on the IBD Long-Term Leaders list. Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, Google and LULU stock are on the IBD 50. AMD was Thursday's IBD Stock Of The Day.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures was roughly flat vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures edged lower and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.25%.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose slightly to 4.18%.
Crude oil futures popped 2%. Copper prices rose nearly 1%. China's Politburo said Friday that fiscal policy will be "moderately strengthened" to buoy domestic demand.
The Labor Department will release the November jobs report at 8:30 a.m. ET. That will be sure to swing Dow Jones futures, Treasury yields and more. Investors want a jobs report that's not too hot but also not too cold, as worries shift from inflation toward recession risks.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn't necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
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Earnings
Broadcom, Lululemon, Smartsheet and Guidewire Software reported Thursday night.
AVGO stock was little changed in premarkeet action as Broadcom earnings slightly beat fiscal Q4 estimates. The chip-and-software giant gave upbeat fiscal 2024 guidance and hiked its dividend by 14%. Shares rose 2.1% to 922.26 in Thursday's regular session, rebounding from near the 50-day line after trending lower for the past couple of weeks, often in heavy volume. Broadcom stock has a still-valid 923.67 flat-base buy point, but has been consolidating since late May.
LULU stock fell modestly in extended trade as Lululemon earnings topped views but the yoga apparel giant guided holiday-quarter profit and sales just below consensus. Shares edged up 0.9% on Thursday to 464.67. Lululemon stock is significantly extended from a buy area, but is coming up to its November 2021 record high 485.83.
SMAR stock rose solidly overnight after Smartsheet earnings topped forecasts. Shares inched up 0.3% to 44.89 on Thursday. SMAR stock has a 52.81 consolidation buy point. Investors could use Tuesday's high of 45.96 as an early entry.
GWRE stock were little changed in extended action. Guidewire broke even, defying forecasts for a loss, but guided low on current-quarter revenue. The insurance software maker advanced 0.8% to 98.85 on Thursday, finding support near the 21-day line. Guidewire stock closed in range of a 95.88 buy point from a flat base.
Jobs Report Preview
Economists expect November nonfarm payrolls to rise by 180,000, up from October's 150,000, which was affected by the UAW auto strike.
The jobless rate should hold at 3.9%. Hourly earnings are expected to rise 0.3%, but with the annual gain cooling slightly to 4%.
Earlier in the week, other labor data was generally weak, especially job openings and the ADP Employment Report.
Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally rebounded Thursday, with big-cap techs leading a broad advance.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% in Thursday's stock market trading. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.8%, with AMD stock easily the top performer. The Nasdaq composite ran up 1.4%.
The small-cap Russell 2000 climbed 0.9%.
While Thursday's gains in AMD and Google were AI-driven, more-speculative AI plays had muted gains or even losses. C3.ai gapped down 10.77% Thursday on weak revenue and guidance.
Chips had a solid session even outside AMD and Nvidia. Travel stocks fared well, with Booking Holdings breaking out.
U.S. crude oil prices tried to bounce but closed down 4 cents to $69.34 a barrel, the lowest close since late June.
The 10-year Treasury yield edged up 1 basis point to 4.13%, right at three-month lows after reaching 4.18% Thursday morning.
ETFs
Among growth ETFs, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF rose 0.5%. Microsoft is a massive IGV holding. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF jumped 2.3%. Nvidia and AMD stock are major SMH holdings, along with Broadcom.
Reflecting more-speculative story stocks, ARK Innovation ETF climbed 0.5% and ARK Genomic ETF 0.2%. Tesla stock is still a huge holding across Ark Invest's ETFs.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF rose 0.4% and the Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF added 0.5%. U.S. Global Jets ETF ascended 2.4%. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF stepped up 0.8%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF fell 0.7% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund dipped 0.1%.
The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund edged up 0.1%.
The Financial Select SPDR ETF added 0.5%. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF popped 1.9%.
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AMD Stock
AMD stock surged 9.9% to 128.37, reclaiming a 122.11 cup-with-handle buy point on a daily chart and also clearing a 125.73 handle buy point on a weekly chart. On Wednesday, AMD unveiled a new AI chip line to take on Nvidia. But shares reversed from the buy point to close slightly lower, below the 21-day line.
Analysts generally praised AMD's new AI chip. Microsoft, Meta Platforms and OpenAI said they would buy AMD's AI accelerator, lessening their dependence on Nvidia.
Nvidia stock, for its part, rose 2.4% to 465.96, bouncing from its 50-day line. Shares are still below the 21-day and Thursday was an inside day to Wed.'s downside reversal. NVDA stock has a still-valid 476.09 double-bottom buy point.
Google Stock
Google stock leapt 5.3% to 136.93, gapping back above the 50-day. Shares are closing in on a 139.42 cup-with-handle buy point, according to MarketSmith analysis. Intraday, GOOGL stock flirted with an entry from a downtrend in the handle. Investors could now use Thursday's high of 138.56 as an early entry.
On Wednesday, Google unveiled its Gemini large language model, which will power the Bard chatbot and more, taking on Microsoft, OpenAI and others. That day, shares edged down 0.7%. But Thursday, JPMorgan said Gemini is a "significant innovation" for Google.
Microsoft stock edged up 0.6% to 370.95, rising off the 21-day line and within range of a 366.78 cup-base buy point. After consolidating for several weeks in the buy zone, MSFT stock is no longer extended from the 50-day.
Other Megacaps
Apple stock climbed 1% to 194.27, back above a 192.93 cup-with-handle buy point and a $3 trillion valuation.
Amazon stock added 1% to 146.88, bouncing from near the 21-day to reclaim a 145.86 buy point yet again.
Meta stock popped 2.9% to 326.59, rebounding from the 50-day and edging back above the 21-day line and a 326.20 buy point. That snapped a six-day losing streak.
Tesla stock climbed 1.35% to 242.60, its third straight small advance from near the 50-day line. Shares are closing in a trendline entry now just below 250, as well as a recent high of 252.75. The official TSLA stock buy point is 278.98 from a double-bottom base.
On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Ganesh Venkataramanan, head of Dojo hardware has left Tesla. Other reports suggested he had left last month, possibly over disappointment regarding the next-generation "Dojo 2" chip.
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What To Do Now
The major indexes are near 52-week highs, but haven't cleared recent sideways action. A longer pause would be healthy, but a number of stocks have forged handles or pulled back to key levels over the past several days.
Investors could have taken advantage of AMD stock or some other buying opportunities Thursday, but probably shouldn't be getting too aggressive with the indexes within their recent ranges. By adding exposure throughout November, investors have the luxury of letting their holdings work.
But work on your watchlists. You want to be aware of emerging setups in advance, so you can take advantage, or not, when they trigger entries.
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