Major stock indexes held onto mild gains Thursday despite the U.S. government shutdown, and small-cap gauges finished practically at session highs, a promising sign for the five-month-long confirmed uptrend. Tesla stock reversed sharply lower despite strong delivery numbers. Meanwhile, Astera Labs and Advanced Micro Devices triggered new follow-on buy points on the stock market today.
Key large-cap indexes gained enough to register new closing highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78 points to finish at 46,519, up less than 0.2%. Blue chips did not stray too far from an intraday high of 46,589.
The S&P 500 had forfeited a minimal opening gain to trade fractionally lower, moved into higher territory by day's end, then finished up less than 0.1% at 6,715. Its session high was 6,731, up a healthy 14.4% since Jan. 1. Small caps did better as the Russell 2000 rose 0.6%. The S&P SmallCap 600 advanced 0.4%, marking its fifth up day in a row.
And the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended up 0.4% at 22,844, matching the Nasdaq-100 index's rise. The Nasdaq hovered near a session high of 22,900, which was also an all-time high. Volume cooled on both main exchanges amid the observance of the Yom Kippur Jewish holiday.
Meanwhile, a few industrial plays are having a strong second half of the year. But a leader among U.S.-traded Chinese stocks got pummeled and justified profit-taking.
This IBD Sector Leader Gets Trampled
Futu, a leading online broker in China, initially started out Thursday bullishly. But an early, stout gain of 5% got smothered by sellers, and shares instead dove more than 5%.
Volume jumped to unusually high levels, rising well past 5.1 million shares, the highest since mid-August. Futu also sharply undercut its rising 50-day moving average, a good reason to take at least partial profits.
Notice on the daily chart how Futu had closed two sessions in a row beneath the 50-day line, which plots a stock's average daily closing price over the past 50 sessions. Then Futu rebounded. A failure to rebound quickly this time around would mark a defensive sell rule.
Futu had furnished multiple buy points as it created a cup with handle from its February peak at 130.88 to a six-session rally that commenced on July 3. Arguably, handle buy points emerged not only at 118.52, the high marked on May 29, but also at 124.69, the June 16 high, and 127.11, the peak on June 25.
A handle signifies the final shakeout of disgruntled, uncommitted holders as they sell shares after holding significant paper losses for weeks, if not months. As these shares get handed to investors with conviction, the supply of freely traded shares effectively declines, helping set the stage for a good breakout.
Futu still boasts excellent fundamentals. Earnings during the previous four quarters have registered growth of 21% to up to 105% vs. year-ago levels. Wall Street sees the bottom line expanding 70% this year to $8.65 a share, and by 14% to $9.86 in 2026.
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2:34 p.m. ET
These Industrial Players Make Moves
As it gained 2% Thursday afternoon, Caterpillar has quietly emerged as a leader within the Dow industrials. After clearing a base-on-base pattern showing a 441.15 buy point two weeks ago, the giant in mining and construction equipment has advanced quickly. This week, shares reached as high as 495.98, a 12% gain from the pivot point.
On a daily chart, Caterpillar shares recently pulled back to the short-term 10-day moving average but found bullish support. The 10-day line can be plotted on MarketSurge daily charts as well as on other charting platforms.
Caterpillar's 84 Relative Strength Rating ranks third highest within the 30-stock Dow industrials. An 84 means the stock is outperforming 84% of all companies in the IBD database over the past 12 months. According to MarketSurge data, the three-month and six-month RS ratings are even higher at 86 and 87, respectively.
Also, keep an eye on copper plays.
Amid a 1.2% rebound in near-expiration copper futures, Southern Copper edged closer to a potential 20%-25% profit target from a recent breakout point of 108.31. It also climbed nearly 2% Thursday.
Southern Copper rushed out of a 10-week cup without handle during the week ended Sept. 19. That base produced a 108.31 entry.
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1:12 p.m. ET
Stock Market Today: Losers Outmatch Winners
Breadth was negative. Losers outmatched winners on the New York Stock Exchange by a 2-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped gainers by 7-to-6.
The 10-year Treasury yield initially rose to 4.12% but cooled off to 4.08%, down two basis points vs. Wednesday. Oil prices fell, as West Texas intermediate futures traded around $60.60 a barrel.
Silver Punched
Gold futures also cooled off, losing 0.9% to near $3,860 but they floated off the intraday low of $3,843. Silver futures sank more than 3% to near $46 an ounce. Silver hit an intraday low of $45.71, which was still up 56% year to date.
The iShares Silver Trust exchange traded fund, dropped nearly 2% and notched a session low of 41.66. Volume tripled its 50-day moving average. This came a day after the fund hit a 20%-25% profit zone from a flat-base entry at 35.91.
The 20%-25% sell rule is designed for investors to not only offset losses in other stocks and exchange traded funds – and these losses should be limited to 7% or less in every trade – but also to allow investors to capture much of the upside before the inevitable next correction takes place.
12:29 p.m. ET
Fresh Buy Points For These Stocks
Advanced Micro Devices headed into Thursday with a gain of nearly 36% year to date, rallied more than 2% and marked a session high of 170.26. Even at that session high, the chip designer for artificial intelligence data centers and high performance computing was in buy range after rebounding back above its 50-day and 10-week moving averages. AMD is also forming a new base.
The first or second rebound back above the 10-week line after a successful initial breakout justifies adding shares to an existing winning stake, or starting a new position. AMD began its solid rally with a breakout in July past a cup with handle that revealed a 147.75 pivot point. Shares rallied as much as 26% before cooling off in recent months.
Meanwhile, Astera Labs marked a solid bounce of its own on the 50-day line in a rebound that began on Wednesday. After cutting losses that session to just less than 0.7%, the specialist in interconnect technology for AI data centers barreled more than 7% higher. Volume picked up 6% above its 50-day average.
Astera, holding a market cap of $34.7 billion and 166.2 million shares outstanding, recently joined SwingTrader on Investor's Business Daily.
11:03 a.m. ET
Stock Market Today: Tesla Reverses, Satellite Play Breaks Out
Tesla started the session up more than 2% but switched gears and was down more than 1% in recent action.
Tesla remains in a strong short-term rally after breaking out past an early buy point of 367.71 within a very deep and long cup pattern. So at this point wait to see if it holds near the top of that base, showing a high of 488.54. That in fact is the long-term winning stock's all-time peak.
Elsewhere, AST SpaceMobile was one of the market's early strong winners as the large cap broke out of a cup with handle formed since mid-July.
Shares jumped nearly 10% in recent action. Volume sprinted 60% above normal levels for now, compared with its average turnover over the past 50 sessions. The satellite-based broadband network provider is highly speculative; it's logged less than $5 million in revenue in the trailing four quarters.
Nonetheless, AST's Relative Strength Rating is excellent at 96 on a scale of 1 to 99.
9:46 a.m. ET
These ETFs Move Higher
Among exchange traded funds, the Invesco QQQ Trust rose 0.2%. Also, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF moved up 0.1% after Thursday's market open.
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Nasdaq 100 Winners, Losers: AMD, Netflix
Inside the Nasdaq 100, bitcoin play Strategy and Advanced Micro Devices were among the best performers at the market open, up more than 3% and nearly 2%, respectively. AMD stock is attempting to bullishly regain its 50-day moving average.
On the downside, Netflix and Airbnb tumbled nearly 2% and more than 1%, respectively. Netflix stock threatened to extend a losing streak to four sessions.
9:21 a.m. ET
Tesla Stock Jumps On Strong Deliveries
Early Thursday, Tesla stock jumped nearly 3% after the company reported third-quarter deliveries of 497,099, above official estimates calling for 454,130 electric vehicles delivered.
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It was also above more recent Tesla delivery forecasts, which were in the 470,000-495,000 range. Meanwhile, the company produced 447,450 vehicles.
Tesla stock is rapidly approaching its record intraday high of 488.54, reached on Dec. 18.
8:42 a.m. ET
Stock Market Today: Nvidia Set To Hit Record High
Nvidia stock climbed 1.4% premarket Thursday, set to extend a winning streak to six sessions and hit another record high.
This week, shares broke out past a 184.48 buy point in a flat base, according to IBD MarketSurge. The stock is in a 5% buy zone that runs up to 193.70.
8:18 a.m. ET
Tesla Delivery Data On Tap
Tesla stock rallied nearly 2% premarket Thursday, ahead of the company's third-quarter global deliveries, expected out before Thursday's open. The official consensus is for 454,130 electric vehicles delivered. That would be up 18.2% vs. the second quarter's 384,122, but down 1.9% from 462,890 during the same period in 2024.
However, more recent Tesla delivery forecasts have been in the 470,000-495,000 range. The Kalshi prediction market estimates that Tesla deliveries will hit a record 509,000 vehicles.
Tesla deliveries hit a record 495,570 in the fourth quarter of 2024.
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Stock Market Today: Jobless Claims Delayed
Due to the federal government shutdown, the Labor Department will not report its weekly initial jobless claims nor will the Commerce Department release its monthly factory orders.
Claims were expected to rise modestly to 224,000 after two straight weeks of unexpected declines to 218,000, according to Econoday estimates. And factory orders were expected to rise 1.4% in August.
Be sure to follow Scott Lehtonen on X at @IBD_SLehtonen for more on growth stocks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the stock market today.
