The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied as Microsoft rose amid a merger report. Tesla popped after CEO Elon Musk mocked a prominent investor for shorting the stock. Oracle jumped on an analyst call while it posted an earnings beat.
Meanwhile, a trio of noteworthy names attempted breakouts. Intapp, W.W. Grainger and Biogen all tested buy points.
Treasury yields slipped. The 10-year yield fell 1 basis point to 3.74% while the two-year yield dipped 3 basis points to 4.57%. The yield curve remains inverted.
"The bull market rally looks like it doesn't want to stop, which means Wall Street appears confident that the Fed will not be delivering its 11th straight rate hike this week," Oanda Senior Market Analyst Edward Moya said in a note to clients.
Nasdaq, IBD 50 Roar
The Nasdaq handily outperformed the other major indexes as it closed up 1.5%. Broadcom and Airbnb were strong here, rising 6.3% and 5.7%, respectively.
The benchmark S&P 500 also charged, rising 0.9% and closing at its highest level since April 2022. Carnival sailed almost 13% higher after a pair of bullish Wall Street calls.
Volume was higher on both the Nasdaq and the NYSE, according to early data. This is a bullish sign.
The S&P 500 sectors closed mixed with an upside bias. Technology and consumer discretionary fared best while utilities and energy were the worst performers.
Small caps inched higher, with the Russell 2000 up 0.4%. Growth stocks excelled, with the Innovator IBD 50 ETF rising 1.5%.
Dow Jones Today: Microsoft Up Amid Merger Report
A Dow Jones Industrial Average rally gained power heading into the close. It ended the day up 190 points, or 0.6%.
Microsoft stock ended the session up 1.6% after a Wall Street Journal report said that the Federal Trade Commission is going to move to block its mooted acquisition of video game giant Activision Blizzard.
Citing a person familiar with the issue, the WSJ said the FTC will file an injunction in federal court to block the deal from going forward. It had already sued to prevent the merger.
It is just the latest snag for the proposed deal, with the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority previously deciding to block the merger, though an appeal has been lodged.
MSFT was not the strongest performer on the Dow Jones today, though. Intel led the upside with a 5.5% lift, while Boeing rose 2%.
Boeing is the IBD Stock of the Day after it cleared a 221.33 entry. It was added to SwingTrader on Thursday.
Chevron was the worst Dow performer as it dipped 1%. Leaderboard stock Salesforce also lagged with a 0.8% decline.
Tesla Stock Up After Elon Musk Mocks Short Seller
Tesla is going through its best win streak in history. The stock has now risen for 12 consecutive days, roaring more than 35% over this period, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That makes it Tesla's longest win streak and the best 12-day stretch since February 2023, when it made a 36.3% run.
Tesla CEO Musk has never been a fan of short sellers. And he could not resist mocking storied investor Bill Miller on Twitter.
Musk posted a laughing face emoji in response to a January video of the former hedge fund manager revealing a short position in the automaker.
"If it goes up, I'll short some more," Miller said in the video, where he also said the EV behemoth "is now losing market share."
It will have been an expensive trade, if he stuck to his word. At the time, he claimed Tesla is "not worth $380 billion." In fact, its current market cap has now shot up to $778 billion.
Tesla stock, which is currently an IBD Leaderboard member, ended the session up 2.2%. It is well extended from a 207.79 entry and is now up 131% since the start of 2023.
Oracle Earnings Beat After Stock Pops On Bullish Call
Oracle beat earnings views after the close. ORCL stock had already jumped ahead of the report, following a bullish analyst call.
Wolfe upgraded ORCL to outperform from peer perform, citing "accelerating top-line growth as well as margin expansion." It called for margins to move back to the mid-40% range in time. His price target is 130.
The upgrade sent the stock higher, with Oracle ending the session up 6%. ORCL is now up 39% so far in 2023.
JPMorgan also hiked its Oracle price target ahead of the report, raising it to 109. It maintained its buy rating.
Oracle earnings per share came in at $1.67, better than expected, while revenue of $13.84 billion was also above views. This sent ORCL stock higher still in extended trading.
"Annual revenue growth was led by our cloud applications and infrastructure businesses," Oracle CEO Safra Catz said in a news release. "Both of our two strategic cloud businesses are getting bigger — and growing faster. That bodes well for another strong year in FY24."
EPS had been expected to rise 3% to $1.58, according to Zacks Investment Research. Revenue was seen rising 16% to $3.74 billion. This would be on the back of 18% revenue growth for three straight quarters.
Oracle has shown impressive relative strength since breaking out from a 91.22 entry in late March. ORCL stock has made excellent progress since then, finding support at the 21-day exponential moving average along the way.
It has also been reported that Oracle has made an investment in AI startup Cohere, which has also attracted investment from Nvidia.
Outside Dow Jones: 3 Stocks Test Entries
With the market in a confirmed uptrend, it is the ideal time to keep tabs on any breakouts.
Integration Appliance, more commonly known as Intapp, is in a buy zone after it cleared a consolidation pattern buy point of 47.04, MarketSmith analysis shows. This is a first-stage pattern for the financial software stock, a plus.
It also saw its relative strength line move to fresh heights. Overall strong performance has netted INTA an IBD Composite Rating of 96 out of 99.
W.W. Grainger is also actionable after it cleared a flat base. The ideal entry point here is 709.21. Earnings are a particular strength for the building materials play, with its EPS Rating a mighty 96 out of 99.
Biogen is one to watch after it briefly cleared a flat-base entry of 319.74. It is now back below the buy point. Overall performance is strong but not ideal, which is reflected in its IBD Composite Rating of 87.
Please follow Michael Larkin on Twitter at @IBD_MLarkin for more analysis of growth stocks.
