The Dow Jones Industrial Average fought back to even Monday as tech stocks rallied. Twitter spiked as Tesla CEO Elon Musk struck a deal to acquire TWTR for 54.20 a share. In contrast, the Donald Trump SPAC Digital World Acquisition cratered.
Halliburton was among the worst laggards as China Covid fears hit oil stocks. Microsoft was a top blue chip as it gears up for earnings.
Volume was up on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq compared to the same time Friday.
Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell around eight basis points to 2.82%. Oil dipped amid fears of more China Covid lockdowns, with West Texas Intermediate crude down nearly 3% to around $99 per barrel.
Nasdaq Battles As Tech Stocks Shine
The Nasdaq was faring best out of the major indexes as it rose 0.6%. Moderna outperformed with a gain of more than 5%.
The S&P 500 was lagging, dipping 0.1%. Charles River Labs was among the worst laggards as it dipped around 8%.
U.S. Stock Market Today Overview |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | Symbol | Price | Gain/Loss | % Change |
| Dow Jones | (0DJIA) | 33855.34 | +43.94 | +0.13 |
| S&P 500 | (0S&P5) | 4267.07 | -4.71 | -0.11 |
| Nasdaq | (0NDQC ) | 12909.88 | +70.59 | +0.55 |
| Russell 2000 | 192.57 | -0.11 | -0.06 | |
| IBD 50 | 33.79 | -0.44 | -1.29 | |
Last Update: 3:04 PM ET 4/25/2022 |
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The S&P sectors were mostly red. Technology and communication services fared best while energy and utilities dropped the most.
Small caps were also down, with the Russell 2000 slipping 0.1%.
It was growth stocks that suffered most once again. The Innovator IBD 50 ETF, a bellwether for growth stocks, dipped 1.3%.
Dow Jones Gains As Microsoft Stock Shines
The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to rally into the green. It was up 0.1%
Microsoft, which is getting ready to post earnings Tuesday, was one of the top performers. The Leaderboard stock rose more than 1%.
Verizon Communications was the worst performer, dropping around 4%. The stock has been falling away since posting earnings.
It comes after it tempted investors by breaking past a 55.80 cup-with-handle buy point Thursday ahead of results.
Twitter Spikes
Twitter stock spiked after Elon Musk struck a deal to acquire the company for 54.20 a share.
Negotiations had been going on through the weekend based on Musk's offer, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Twitter stock was up 6.5% to 52.10 in the stock market today.
It is a massive about face after the Twitter board initially indicated it would rebuff Musk's offer. It also implemented a so-called poison pill to make the deal more costly.
This was before Musk revealed he has secured financing for the deal.
Going forward, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives believes Musk will be able to get the deal over the line.
"It all came down to no other bidders or white knights emerging in the M&A process and Twitter's board back was against the wall once Musk detailed his $46 billion in financing last week to get pen to paper on this deal," he said in a research note. "We do not expect any major regulatory hurdles to the deal getting done as this soap opera now ends with Musk owning Twitter."
Donald Trump SPAC Craters
The move saw the Donald Trump SPAC Digital World Acquisition plunge in sympathy. It is being used as a vehicle to take the Trump Media & Technology Group public.
Truth Social, a platform being touted as an alternative to Twitter, launched on Presidents Day but has been beset by a slew of technical problems.
It led to the firm's head of technology Josh Adams and product development chief Billy Boozer both stepping down.
It remains well off its all-time high of 175, which it reached Oct. 22. It is now trading for a fraction of that.
DWC stock plunged more than 13% for the day. It fell bigly in March, giving up about 30%, and is now down more than 40% so far this month.
Oil Stocks Struggle Amid China Fears
Oil stocks were getting hammered as fears of a global slowdown rise amid coronavirus lockdowns in Shanghai.
Halliburton was one of the worst performers on the stock market today, falling more than 6%.
Schlumberger was also getting hammered, falling nearly 7%. It had jumped last week on earnings.
Devon Energy dropped more than 3%.
Natural gas play Cheniere Energy was trimmed on Leaderboard as it fell more than 3%.
Please follow Michael Larkin on Twitter at @IBD_MLarkin for more on growth stocks and analysis.
