Dow Jones futures fell slightly after hours, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures.
The stock market rally had a strong session Thursday. Nvidia (NVDA) ultimately edged higher after initial whipsaw action following strong earnings.
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Small Caps Jump As Breadth Strengthens; Amphenol, DECK, FTI In Focus
The Nasdaq barely rose and the S&P 500 just rose modestly. The lackluster finishes were largely due to Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL).
But the underlying action was bullish. Many leading stocks made powerful moves into or up-and-out of buy zones. Astera Labs (ALAB), Cloudflare (NET), Confluent (CFLT), Amphenol (APH), TechnipFMC (FTI), Deckers (DECK) and Costco Wholesale (COST) all are actionable.
On the downside, MicroStrategy (MSTR) staged an outside, downside reversal day in massive volume, even as bitcoin kept running toward $100,000.
Nvidia stock and Deckers are on IBD Leaderboard, with Astera Labs on the Leaderboard watchlist. Deckers stock is on SwingTrader. Astera Labs stock and Nvidia are on the IBD 50. Cloudflare was Thursday’s IBD Stock Of The Day.
The video embedded in this article reviews Thursday’s stock market action and analyzes Amphenol, Deckers and TechnipFMC stock.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures declined 0.1% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures edged lower and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.1%.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
Join IBD experts as they analyze leading stocks and the market on IBD Live
Earnings
NetApp (NTAP) and Intuit (INTU) headlined earnings reports after the close.
NTAP stock gapped higher in extended trade, near a possible breakout. The data storage giant broke a downtrend in Thursday’s session.
Intuit stock tumbled overnight. Shares had rebounded back above a buy point Thursday after the TurboTax maker plunged Tuesday on concerns that Donald Trump would push a free tax-filing option.
Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally wavered Thursday morning on Google and Nvidia, but ultimately the key indexes rose, moving toward postelection peaks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.1% in Thursday’s stock market trading while the small-cap Russell 2000 jumped 1.65%. The S&P 500 gained 0.5% while the Nasdaq barely advanced, after both tested their 21-day lines early on.
Alphabet stock tumbled 4.7% Thursday, but found support at its 200-day line and closed just above the 50-day. The Justice Department said it will ask a federal judge to force Google to sell off the Chrome web browser and end payments to Apple (AAPL) as part of an antitrust remedy. That also weighed on Meta Platforms (META) and Amazon.com (AMZN), which also are in antitrust crosshairs.
Meta stock closed down just 0.4%. Amazon stock fell 2.2%, below a buy point.
But the market strength was clear outside of megacaps.
The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) jumped 1.3% while the First Trust Nasdaq 100 Equal Weighted Index ETF (QQEW) gained 1.5%.
Leading stocks had a great day.
Snowflake (SNOW) vaulted nearly 33% on earnings and BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) surged 8.3%. SNOW stock is still well off 52-week highs, but gave a big lift to many software names.
U.S. crude oil prices popped nearly 2% to $70.10 a barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose 2.5 basis points to 4.43%.
ETFs
Among growth ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) jumped 3%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) gained 1.2%, with Confluent stock a member. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) rallied 1.5%. Nvidia stock is the dominant holding in SMH.
ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) fell 0.9% and ARK Genomics ETF (ARKG) lost 0.5%.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) popped 2%. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) advanced 1.2%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF (XLE) and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) gained 0.8%.
The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI) climbed 1.25%. The Financial Select SPDR ETF (XLF) rose 1.3%.
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MicroStrategy Stock
Bitcoin jumped 4.19% to $98,333.95 as of 4 p.m. ET, hitting fresh intraday highs of just above $99,000 as the cryptocurrency runs toward $100,000 in a huge postelection run.
But MicroStrategy stock suffered a huge downside reversal Thursday in the heaviest volume of its run, down 16.2% to 397.28. At its intraday peak of 543, MSTR stock was more than 200% above its 200-day line. The leveraged bitcoin play has had a massive run, and is still up more than 200% from its short-term low of 113.69 on Sept. 6. While the recent run is too short to qualify as a climax run, the climax-type action is something MSTR investors shouldn’t ignore.
Nvidia Stock
Nvidia stock whipsawed Thursday’s morning, hitting a record 152.89 soon after the open and then retreating to 140.70, just below the 140.76 consolidation buy point, according to MarketSurge. But shares recovered to close up 0.5% to 146.67.
Nvidia reported a 103% EPS gain last quarter with revenue soaring 94%, both beating. But the AI chipmaker only guided slightly higher on the current quarter, which will be the first to include Blackwell AI chip shipments.
Stocks In Buy Zones
Astera Labs stock rallied 6.9% to 104.88. The AI chip IPO cleared a 100.06 high-handle entry on a consolidation that started in late March, soon after the new issue began trading.
Cloudflare stock spiked 8.05% to 104.24, running past a 99.17 buy point from a 43%-deep cup-with-handle base. It’s now just out of the buy zone, which runs to 104.13. The relative strength line is at its best levels in more than six months, but still well off consolidation highs.
Confluent stock leapt 7.1% to 30.61, clearing a 30.06 buy point in a messy, deep eight-month consolidation. Volume was strong, as it has been since the Oct. 31 gap up to the 200-day line. The RS line, which tracks a stock’s performance vs. the S&P 500, is rebounding, but still far off highs.
Amphenol stock popped 3.3% to 73.24, rising within a buy zone from a 70.84 entry. Shares broke out on Nov. 6, after Election Day, but soon pulled back, though they closed Wednesday just above the buy point. The AI-related electronics components play got a boost from Nvidia earnings.
TechnipFMC stock rose 3.5% to 30.02, clearing a 29.49 handle buy point. Shares of the offshore oil and gas machinery and services play are benefiting from rebounding oil prices and hopes for more drilling activity under the Trump administration.
Costco stock climbed 3% to 955.65, rising within a buy zone after testing the 923.83 flat-base entry in the prior two sessions. The warehouse giant likely got a boost from smaller rival BJ’s, which raced through a buy zone following its earnings.
Deckers stock rose 3.15% to 181.91, breaking a downtrend within a handle and marking the highest close since early June. DECK stock has a 182.26 cup-with-handle buy point.
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What To Do Now
The stock market rally showed real strength Thursday, outside of a few megacaps, with even the top-heavy Nasdaq advancing. The market could have buckled with Google stock tumbling, especially when Nvidia was at session lows. But it did not.
There was breadth and depth to Thursday’s action, with leading stocks flashing buy signals or continuing runs.
It was a day to make some new buys, especially for investors that lightened up on exposure late last week. This is why you want to have watchlists up to date and stay engaged.
Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.
Please follow Ed Carson on Threads at @edcarson1971 and X/Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.
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