Sellers knocked the major stock indexes lower in early trade Friday, following through to the downside after some stock market selling Thursday. Big movers in the stock market today include Domino’s Pizza (DPZ), a new holding of Warren Buffett. Palantir (PLTR) also outperformed, up more than 2%, on news the company will move to the Nasdaq from the NYSE.
The Nasdaq composite and Nasdaq 100 lagged in the early going with losses of around 1.3%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) performed even worse, down 2%. The ETF lost support at its 50-day moving average, a noteworthy technical development. It was hurt in part by an earnings sell-off for Applied Materials (AMAT). The stock slumped around 9%.
Applied Materials was one of the worst performers in the Nasdaq 100, along with other chip stocks like Arm (ARM) and Lam Research (LRCX).
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Tesla (TSLA) climbed nearly 2% after shares plunged nearly 6% Thursday. The downside catalyst was news that the Trump administration plans to do away with President Joe Biden’s EV tax credit.
The S&P 500 gave back 0.9%, but selling was milder in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Russell 2000. The Dow Jones index slipped 0.6% and Russell 2000 edged lower. Declining stocks beat advancers on the Nasdaq exchange by less than 2-to-1. The ratio was slightly positive on the NYSE.
The 10-year Treasury yield jumped seven basis points to near 4.49% after October retail sales came in mixed, but September data was revised sharply higher. In other economic news, the November Empire State Manufacturing index came in much stronger than expected at 31.2, an indication of robust manufacturing activity in the Northeast region. The reading was -11.9 in October, indicating contraction.
Stock Market Today: Warren Buffett Buys
Domino’s back off opening highs but still rallied 2%. It’s been a laggard performer in the restaurant group with a weak Relative Strength Rating of 58. According to the Wall Street Journal, Buffett’s stake in Domino’s was worth about $550 million at the end of September.
Buffett also started a position in Pool (POOL), another laggard. Shares jumped 3%. Pool operates hundreds of pool equipment and supply stores in the Americas, as well as Europe and South America. Berkshire Hathaway‘s (BRKB) Pool stake is even smaller than in Domino’s, at around $150 million.
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Buffett did more selling than buying in the third quarter. He cut his position in Ulta Beauty (ULTA), a relatively new position, while lowering his stakes in Capital One (COF) and Charter Communications (CHTR).
In the health care space, vaccine makers underperformed again after weak performances Thursday. Moderna (MRNA) and Novavax (NVAX) plunged more than 5% Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Pfizer (PFE), GSK (GSK) and AstraZeneca (AZN) also lagged.
Alibaba Earnings
Alibaba (BABA) pared premarket gains and reversed sharply lower as earnings topped expectations but revenue missed. The China-based e-commerce giant reported revenue of $32.7 billion, up 6% year over year, but that was below the FactSet consensus of $33.5 billion.
Despite the miss, the company cited “robust growth” in gross merchandise volume for its Taobao and Tmall Group businesses during Singles’ Day, a popular shopping holiday that’s widely seen as a barometer of consumer sentiment. The results marked the second straight quarter of accelerating top-line growth.
Follow Ken Shreve on X @IBD_KShreve for more stock market analysis and insight.
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