Thursday’s big stock stories: What’s likely to move the market in the next trading session

Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you a first look at tomorrow and last look at today. Sign up for free to receive it directly in your inbox.

Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at another record, and what’s on the radar for the next session.

• The Dow set another record close Wednesday, rising 337.28 points
• Cisco was the biggest gainer, rising more than 4% after Citi upgraded the stock to a buy rating. CSCO is up over 10% in the last month and closed at its highest since last September.
• UnitedHealth was the biggest point contributor to the Dow, rebounding a bit after Tuesday’s post-earnings drop. It was up 2.7%, adding 98 points to the index, but is down 3% in a month
• The S&P 500 rose about 0.5%, closing just half a percent off its record from Monday.
• The Nasdaq Composite was up roughly 0.3%, 1.6% off its July high
• The small-cap Russell 2000 led Wednesday’s gains, up 1.64% and setting its highest close since November 2021. 

Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2024

• The streaming giant reports Q3 earnings after the bell on Thursday, as the stock is trading near all-time highs. CNBC’s Julia Boorstin will have a full report on the quarter.
• Netflix is up almost 7% in the last three months and has nearly doubled over the past year.
• It’s far outpaced other streamers and media companies in that period.
• Disney is down 1.75% in three months
• Warner Bros. Discovery is up 0.25% over the past three months.
• Comcast — which owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC — is up 6.7% in the period.
• Roku is up nearly 20% in the past three months.
• Spotify is up roughly 25% in that time.

• We get another read on the health of the chip sector and the artificial intelligence trade when Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing reports before the bell. CNBC’s Seema Mody will have all the numbers
• The world’s largest contract chip maker, which counts Apple, Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm among its customers, is up less than 1% over the past three months. However, shares are up 80% this year
• Nvidia is up 7.4% in three months
• AMD is down 12% in three months
• Qualcomm is down 18% in three months
• Intel is down 35% in three months
• Micron Technology is down 14% in three months
• The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) is down 9.6% in three months
• ASML continued its downdraft for a second day, falling another 6.4%. It closed at its lowest since last November and is 38% off its all-time high hit in July

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in 2024

• The investment bank’s shares soared to an all-time high after it beat estimates for third quarter revenue and profit, and the firm saw strength across its businesses.
• The 6.5% jump was the stock’s best day since November 2020.
• Financial focus now turns to the regional banks, with several names reporting Thursday morning.
• KeyCorp is up more than 10% in the last three months.
• Truist Financial is up about 5% in three months.
• Huntington Bancshares is up 11% in three months.
• M&T Bank is up 16% in three months.
• The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) was up 1.4% Wednesday and closed at its highest level since March of last year, before the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

• United Airlines shares jumped 12% after its earnings report last night – the best performer in the S&P 500.
• The stock closed the day at its highest since February 2020 and is up 75% this year
• Its strength lifted other airline stocks.
• Delta was up nearly 7% Wednesday and is up about 40% in 2024.
• American Airlines was up 7% Wednesday but is down 6% year to date.
• JetBlue was up almost 3% Wednesday and is up 28% this year.
• UAL’s strength helped the S&P Industrial Sector set a record close. 

Year-to-date performance for United Airlines

• The utility sector was the best performer in the S&P 500 Wednesday, rising 2%
• The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU) closed at an all-time high, and it’s up about 30% this year
• The most recent moves come after Amazon Web Services announced it had signed an agreement with Dominion Energy to explore development of a small modular nuclear reactor
• Dominion was up 5% Wednesday and is up around 29% this year
• Wednesday’s top utility performer was Vistra Corp, up almost 6%. The stock is also the best performer in the S&P 500 this year, up 252%
• Constellation Energy was up 5% Wednesday and 139% this year
• AES Corp was up almost 3% Wednesday but down 7% this year

• The parent company of the former President’s Truth Social Network rose 15.5%, posting its highest close since late July
• Trump Media & Technology Group is up four of the last five trading days and has gained 166% since hitting an all-time low late last month

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.