Stocks Higher in Afternoon Trading; Apple Hits All-Time High.
Stocks moved higher Monday to kick off a busy week of corporate earnings reports and Fed speakers, while investors assessed the impact of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 0.5% in afternoon trading, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3%. All three indexes were off earlier highs.
On Friday, the major indexes gained ground, pushing them into slightly positive territory for the week, with the Dow topping 40,000. Today the blue-chip index was lifted by stocks including Caterpillar (CAT), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Chevron (CVX).
The recent stock-market rally has been fueled by the performance of tech stocks and hopes the Federal Reserve will cut its influential fed funds rate as soon as September.
Several large-cap technology stocks were gaining ground Monday, including Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL) and Google-parent Alphabet (GOOG).
Shares of Super Micro Computer (SMCI) turned red, handing back morning gains fueled by news that it would join the Nasdaq-100 index. Trump Media (DJT) jumped, rising some 30% in the first trading session since Saturday’s shooting in Pennsylvania.
Bitcoin surged above $63,000, giving a boost to Coinbase (COIN), MicroStrategy (MSTR) and other cryptocurrency-related stocks.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, speaking at an event in New York Monday, reiterated previous comments that recent data has shown progress in the fight against inflation and that the annual inflation rate doesn’t have to decline to the Fed’s target of 2% before the central bank starts cutting its benchmark rate.
The yield on 10-year Treasurys, which has fallen in recent weeks as expectations for a rate cut have increased, was up slightly to 4.23%. Crude oil futures ticked lower, while gold rose.
Apple Hits New High Amid AI-Fueled Optimism
Apple (AAPL) stock touched a record high in intraday trading Monday as the tech giant received price-target increases from analysts who cited the company’s strong position for the future of artificial intelligence (AI) use on smartphones.
Analysts from Loop Capital upgraded Apple stock to “buy” from “hold,” while bumping their price target to $300, from $170 previously.
Loop analysts drew a comparison Monday to how the first iPods went on to make Apple the dominant force in music and digital content and how the first iPhones coincided with the rise of social media. Similar to those advances, the analysts wrote that Apple’s new AI-powered iPhones and iPads could make Apple the generative AI “base camp” for users as the devices’ generative AI services grow more powerful.
The rise of digital content and social media were “material stock catalysts” that helped Apple’s stock rise substantially over time, and Loop analysts said generative AI could be a similar driving force.
Source: https://www.investopedia.com/dow-jones-today-07152024-8677878