Dow Jones futures fell modestly Wednesday morning, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures.
The stock market rally is showing constructive action. The major indexes have been pausing around record highs for the past few days while the Russell 2000 is running back toward a two-year best, reflecting improving breadth. Apple rebounded slightly higher on a report that the iPhone giant is finally giving up on electric vehicles, with much of the team shifting toward generative AI.
Brazilian jet maker Embraer flashed a buy signal Tuesday while Shift4, which does business as Shift4 Payments, staged a bullish upside reversal on earnings. Meanwhile, Nvidia rival Advanced Micro Devices is continuing to work on a base.
Urban Outfitters, First Solar, Array Technologies and Lemonade reported after the close.
Urban Outfitters stock, greatly extended, sold off overnight on an earnings miss. Ailing solar plays First Solar and and Array rose solidly and were down solidly, respectively, on their results. Solar tracking firm Array is a rival to 2023 IPO Nextracker, which has been shining bright. LMND stock, which broke out Tuesday ahead of earnings, plunged early Wednesday on weak guidance.
Dow giant Salesforce.com leads several key software reports Wednesday night.
Lemonade stock is on the IBD 50. Embraer was Tuesday's IBD Stock Of The Day. The video embedded in this article discusses Tuesday's market action and analyzes Embraer, AMD and Shift4 stocks.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures fell 0.2% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures retreated 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.4%.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell slightly to 4.28%. Crude oil futures edged lower.
Bitcoin continued its huge surge, on the verge of hitting $60,000.
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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Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally had mixed but generally positive action Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.25% in Tuesday's stock market trading. The S&P 500 index rose 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.4%.
The small-cap Russell 2000 popped 1.4%, getting close to a two-year high set at the end of last year.
Just a few days ago, the concern was the Nasdaq was getting extended while market breadth was struggling. So the major indexes pausing for a few days while small caps and other broad gauges rally is close to ideal.
The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF advanced 0.4%, to just below record highs. The First Trust Nasdaq 100 Equal Weighted Index ETF rose 0.5%, hitting an all-time best.
Those ETFs, along with sector ETFs, point to broad market leadership.
Still, buying opportunities have been limited. A longer market pause would be helpful for stocks working on bases or handles.
U.S. crude oil prices rose 1.7% to $78.87 a barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose about two basis points to 4.31%, hovering at 2024 highs.
ETFs
Among growth ETFs, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF edged up less than 0.1%. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF dipped 0.3%, with AMD stock a major holding.
Reflecting more-speculative story stocks, ARK Innovation ETF gained 2.9% and ARK Genomics ETF jumped 4.9%.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF rose 1.1%. U.S. Global Jets ETF ascended 0.4%. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF stepped up 0.8%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF declined 0.4% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund dipped 0.2%.
The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund inched up 0.15%. The Financial Select SPDR ETF added 0.3%.
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Stocks Near Buy Points
Embraer stock rose 3.5% to 18.95 in heavy volume, rebounding from the 50-day line, and cleared short-term highs, offering an early entry. Shares of the Brazilian jet maker are working on a 20.13 buy point from a base-on-base formation.
Shift4 stock ran up 5.55% to 76.83 after tumbling to 68 shortly after the open, undercutting a few months of trading. Before the open, the payments firm reported a 90% EPS gain with revenue growth accelerating to 31%, but those fell short of estimates. However, Shift4 gave bullish guidance. Investors could use an old buy point of 76.40 or perhaps 79.20 as an entry for FOUR stock.
AMD stock climbed 1.1% to 178, finding support just above the 21-day moving average. Shares have been trading tightly for several weeks. After this week, AMD stock would have a flat base with a 184.92 buy point.
AMD is trying to challenge Nvidia in AI chips. NVDA stock dipped 0.5% to 787.01 on Tuesday, still just below record highs. While AMD stock is up 6.15% in February, Nvidia has soared 27.9%.
Apple Shifts From EVs To AI
The tech titan is scrapping Project Titan, its decadelong effort to make an electric vehicle, telling employees internally Tuesday, Bloomberg reported. Many of the near-2,000 Apple employees working on the EV project will shift to generative AI efforts. Unlike most other big techs, Apple hasn't played up artificial intelligence efforts over the past year, but there have been rumblings that this is about to change.
Apple stock rose 0.8% to 182.63, reversing from slim intraday losses and giving the major indexes a slight lift. Still, AAPL stock has been lagging for months and remains below all the key moving averages.
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What To Do Now
There aren't a lot of stocks to buy right now, but several could be setting up. In many cases, they need more time vs. price and volume action. Less sizzle, more seasoning.
The market rally's pause may let that take place. In the meantime, investors don't need to take a lot of action right now. But they do want to be tracking emerging bases, pullbacks and other buying opportunities. So work on your watchlists and stay engaged.
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