Nvidia May Lead Early Upward Move On Wall Street
June 20 2024 - 9:10AM
IH Market News
The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher
open on Thursday, with stocks likely to move the upside as trading
resumes following the Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday.
A notable advance by shares of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) may
contribute to early strength on Wall Street, as the AI darling is
surging by 3.7 percent in pre-market trading.
Nvidia shot up by 3.5 percent during trading on Tuesday,
surpassing Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) as the world’s most valuable
public company.
The futures remained positive after the Labor Department
released a report showing a modest pullback by first-time claims
for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended June 15th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dipped to
238,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level
of 243,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 235,000 from
the 242,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, a separate report released by the Commerce Department
unexpectedly showed a steep drop in new residential construction in
the U.S. in the month of May.
Following the strong upward move seen over the course of
Monday’s session, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster
performance during trading on Tuesday. Despite the choppy trading,
the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq once again reached new record
closing highs.
The major averages all finished the day modestly higher. The
S&P 500 climbed 13.80 points or 0.2 percent to 5,487.03, the
Dow rose 56.76 points or 0.2 percent to 38,834.86 and the Nasdaq
inched up 5.21 points or less than a tenth of a percent to
17,862.23.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came following the release of
a mixed batch of U.S. economic data, with reports on retail sales
and industrial production telling two separate stories.
The Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales
crept up by 0.1 percent in May after dipping by a revised 0.2
percent in April.
Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.2 percent
compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the
previous month.
Excluding an increase in sales by motor vehicle and parts
dealers, retail sales edged down by 0.1 percent in May after
slipping by a revised 0.1 percent in April.
Economists had expected ex-auto sales to climb by 0.2 percent,
matching the increase originally reported for the previous
month.
“Retail sales came in really light this morning and while that
may be good news for inflation hawks, it could be the beginning of
a slowdown in growth, which would hurt a lot more than a couple of
interest rate cuts would help,” said Chris Zaccarelli, Chief
Investment Officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve released a separate report
showing industrial production increased by much more than expected
in the month of May.
The Fed said industrial production jumped by 0.9 percent in May
after coming in unchanged in April. Economists had expected
industrial production to rise by 0.3 percent.
While most of the major sectors showed only modest moves, gold
stocks saw considerable strength amid an increase by the price of
the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 1.5
percent.
Significant strength was also visible among semiconductor
stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbing by 1.4
percent to a record closing high.
Banking and computer hardware stocks also saw some strength on
the day, while housing stocks saw notable weakness, dragging the
Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 1.6 percent.
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