Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Little Changed as Major Indexes Look to Extend Rally

Stocks were slightly lower in afternoon trading Tuesday, threatening to end the longest winning streak of the year for major indexes.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial Average were down 0.2%, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.3%.The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are riding eight-session winning streaks, while the Dow has closed higher on seven of the last eight trading days. The S&P 500 started the day just 1% away from its July all-time closing high, while the Dow was 0.7% from its record close.

Stocks have made an impressive recovery from steep losses earlier in the month as concerns about the health of the economy have subsided, while investors expect the Federal Reserve to deliver long-awaited interest rate cuts starting in September.

The economic data calendar is light this week, but investors will be paying close attention to comments from several Fed officials who are slated to speak in the coming days. The big event comes Friday when Fed Chair Jerome Powell will deliver remarks at the central bank’s Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.

Chip stocks, which have helped lead the rally in recent weeks, were lower on Tuesday, with AI investor favorite Nvidia (NVDA) down 2% after gaining about 30% over the past eight trading sessions. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was down 1.4%.

Other large-cap tech stocks were mixed, with Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) gaining ground while Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) and Tesla (TSLA) retreated.

Palo Alto Networks (PANW) shares were up nearly 9%, leading S&P 500 gainers, after the cybersecurity company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Lowe’s (LOW) was about 1% after the company reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter sales and lowered its outlook amid a continued slowdown in spending on big-ticket home improvement projects.

Gold futures were up slightly after hitting a new high around $2,560 per ounce, while bitcoin was at about $59,000 after rising to near $61,000 earlier in the day.

The yield on 10-year Treasurys, which is sensitive to expectations around where interest rates are headed, was near its lowest point in nearly a week, at around 3.83%.

Netflix Hits Record High on Strong Ad Sales

1 hr 12 min ago

Netflix (NFLX) shares traded at their all-time high Tuesday after the streaming giant reported a huge jump in advertising sales.

The company said it had closed deals with all major holding companies and independent agencies, securing a “150% plus increase” over 2023 in upfront ad sales commitments.

Netflix said that it closed partnerships for several of its upcoming films and series, including “Squid Game,” “Outer Banks,” and “Happy Gilmore 2.” In addition, it struck deals for highly watched live events such as Christmas Day NFL games and “WWE Raw.”

Netflix shares were up 1.5% at $698.67 recently, after surging as high as $711 early in the session.

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–Bill McColl

Eli Lilly Hits Record High

3 hr 14 min ago

Eli Lilly (LLY) stock jumped to a record high on Tuesday after clinical trial results showed tirzepatide—the active ingredient in Lilly’s injectable weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro—lowered patients’ risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 94%.1

The three-year study of patients with prediabetes and either obesity or overweight also found that those who received tirzepatide lost 22.9% of their body weight on average, compared with 2.1% for patients treated with a placebo.

Earlier this month, Eli Lilly reported Mounjaro sales more than tripled year-over-year to $3.09 billion in the second quarter. Zepbound sales exceeded $1 billion in just its second full quarter since being approved by the Food and Drug Administration in November.

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Shares of Eli Lilly jumped 5% to an all-time high of $967 Tuesday morning, before paring gains to trade 3% higher recently. The stock has risen more than 60% this year compared with a 17% gain for the S&P 500.

–Andrew Kessel

Palo Alto Pops After Earnings

5 hr 20 min ago

Shares in Palo Alto Networks (PANW) rose in premarket trading Tuesday after the cybersecurity provider released quarterly results that surpassed expectations and issued an outlook at the high end of Wall Street forecasts.

Buyers snapped up a temporary dip below a multi-month trendline and the 200-day moving average earlier this month, with the price continuing to show upward momentum leading into the company’s quarterly results.

Source: TradingView.com.

Investors should watch key overhead chart levels in Palo Alto shares at $345, $375, and $435, while also keeping an eye on support around $316.

Palo Alto shares were up 6.6% at $366.13 in recent trading.

Read our full technical analysis here.

–Timothy Smith

Stock Futures Little Changed

6 hr 23 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.1%.

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S&P 500 futures were up fractionally.

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Nasdaq 100 futures were down fractionally.