The Dow Jones Industrial Average accelerated its early-afternoon rally Thursday, at one point rising nearly 300 points, but saw some traders take late-hour profits to cut the day's gains to around 200 points as small caps outpaced the market. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit new highs again on the stock market today.
Blue chips on the Dow erased earlier losses to climb 0.4% by session end. At least seven of the 30 Dow industrials stocks gained 1% or more, including Leaderboard stock American Express, Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, biotech Amgen and Caterpillar, the mining and construction machinery titan.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite traded mostly in a narrow range and ended barely positive, while the Nasdaq 100 crept slightly lower. Volume was mixed, edging 2% lower vs. the same time Wednesday on the Nasdaq and 11.5% higher on the New York Stock Exchange, according to Investor's Business Daily's homepage at Investors.com.
Small caps performed well Thursday with the Russell 2000 finishing up 0.5%.
Stock Market Today: These Tech Stocks Falter
A flurry of cybersecurity stocks declined in heavy volume, a curious divergence to strength in non-tech firms. Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks fell more than 6%. Both leaders also cut below their 50-day lines, a sign of sudden technical weakness.
Travel-related companies flourished amid a sell-off in crude oil. Financial, industrial and cyclical companies also shined amid a surprise fall in weekly jobless claims. Data-center stocks, however, were stung with sharp losses on the stock market today.
Among exchange traded funds, the Invesco QQQ Trust continued to lag but it fell only 0.1%, trimming losses. The ETF holds an 8.7% gain year to date.
Financials continued to show near-term strength, as the SPDR S&P Bank ETF rose more than 1% before cooling off to a 0.6% ascent. It's forming a narrow handle on a long cup base, producing a 59.20 proper buy point.
Treasuries Up, Oil Slips
The 10-year Treasury yield was up nearly three basis points to a high of 4.37% Thursday before cooling off to 4.34%. Still, the yield is up for the month since closing the first half of the year at 4.23%.
Crude oil futures fell sharply, with the near-expiration contract on the Nymex sinking even more in the afternoon. Crude dropped 2.2% to $66.91 a barrel, not far from its session low of $66.58. IBD's airline transport group led the upside, rising 10.3%.
But metal ores, coal, wood products, medical research equipment, home furnishings, leisure services, logistics, farm equipment and steel firms also guided to the upside. They all rallied 2% or more on a price-weighted basis. Some of these industry groups are especially sensitive to swings in energy prices.
Market Rally Hits Fresh Highs But CoreWeave Dives, Leads Growth Losers
3:28 p.m. ET
Salesforce Leads Dow Losers
On the downside within the Dow industrials, component Salesforce and IBM led with losses of 2.6% and 1%, respectively. Salesforce's RS Rating is particularly weak at 25 on a scale of 1 to 99.
Salesforce has seen its earnings and sales increases slow in recent quarters, but Wall Street still expects low double-digit gains in the bottom line in the fiscal year ending in January 2026 and in fiscal 2027. The enterprise software giant is still trying to bottom out and craft a new base, sitting more than 28% below a 52-week high.
IBM is doing much better chartwise. Shares are down for a third straight session, but the cloud computing and tech services titan is finding critical support at the 21-day exponential moving average. IBM is also extended after breaking out of a base at 266.45; the 5% buy zone went up to 279.77.
In stocks, MP Materials continued to be the day's true standout, as the rare earth metals miner rallied more than 59% in huge volume to 45.27 after scoring a large contract with the Pentagon. A weekly chart shows how MP Materials is now approaching its 2022 peak of 60.19.
MP broke a multiyear downtrend in the week ended Sept. 27 last year, when shares barreled 32% higher. Since then, MP has been carving out a series of higher highs and higher lows.
The Relative Strength Rating of 94 in MP Materials is also shiny, as it means the company has now outperformed 94% of all companies in the IBD database over the past 12 months. Wall Street expects the company to post a net loss of 62 cents a share this year but then post earnings of 4 cents a share in 2026.
2:02 p.m. ET
Sell Rules Trigger For These Companies
Byrna Technologies flopped following a decent earnings report.
The maker of less-than-lethal weapons for the law enforcement, prison and military markets posted an 11% increase in earnings to 10 cents a share vs. 9 cents a year earlier. Sales grew 41% to $28.5 million. However, gross margin of 60.8% fell from recent quarters. The stock plummeted more than 21% in massive volume, hitting a session low of 24.61. That drop wiped out six weeks' worth of gains.
Plus, Byrna marked two IBD-style sell rules. First, the small cap fell more than 7% below a 33.05 buy point in a cup with handle nearly five months long. Keeping losses small in every stock keeps an individual investor in the game. Second, the stock sliced right through its 50-day moving average; good stocks in strong uptrends respect their 50-day lines.
Axon Enterprise fell hard too, perhaps in sympathy with Byrna. The Taser and surveillance technology expert slid more than 8% in volume running twice normal levels. Axon is testing support at its 50-day line on a daily chart. However, Axon also undercut its 10-week moving average on the weekly chart. The last time the stock closed beneath the 10-week line was in the week ended April 4.
Elsewhere, MercadoLibre succumbed to selling pressure amid President Donald Trump's huge 50% tariff threat against Brazilian imports. The Latin America-based e-commerce and payments firm fell nearly 3% for its fifth loss in seven sessions. The stock is off an intraday low of 2,358.32 but remains significantly beneath its 50-day moving average.
MercadoLibre has continued to produce solid fundamentals and holds a topflight 99 Composite Rating. Analysts have shaved their earnings forecasts, but on consensus they still see earnings floating 32% higher this year to $49.90 a share.
12:39 p.m. ET
Viva Las Vegas! Mining Firm Soars
Going back to MP Materials, the stock is enjoying its biggest weekly gain in years; it's up 35%. The Las Vegas-based operator of a rare earth minerals mine in Nevada gapped up at Thursday's open and reached 48.12, up as much as 60% for the day, before retreating somewhat.
Notice on a daily chart how the midcap growth stock — with 163.5 million shares outstanding and $7.22 billion in market cap — broke out of an eight-week cup base with a 29.72 entry point on June 12.
Stock Market Outlook For The Next 6 Months: Watch These Risks
The stock then jumped nearly 32% in just five days of action, and surrendered that toasty gain entirely in recent weeks. Such volatility is unusual, but commodity-driven stocks often feature such choppy moves.
Please see this IBD story on MP's industry-shaking partnership with the Pentagon to secure supplies of rare minerals that go into a variety of devices ranging from cellphones and electric vehicles to military equipment.
11:27 a.m. ET
Dow Transportation Index Leads Gains
Money flowed heavily into transportation stocks following better-than-expected earnings from Delta Air Lines. (See earnings details below).
The Dow Jones transportation average soared more than 3% and at one point hit a session high of 16,429. The big gains pushed the index up to a four-month high and up 3% for the year.
However, Brazilian jet maker Embraer got slammed again for a fourth straight session and triggered a new sell rule. Shares fell more than 8% and hit a session low of 51.90, virtually surrendering all gains since the June breakout past a 50.45 entry point in a cup with handle.
Brazilian stocks fell in unison on news that President Trump has sent a letter to the country's president that he intends to impose a 50% tariff on all imports from the South American country on Aug. 1.
Embraer had already marked a profit-taking sell rule last week by rising into the 20%-25% profit zone from the 50.45 buy point.
10:30 a.m. ET
Stock Market Today: Most Tech Stocks Reverse Lower
Among closely watched stocks in the artificial intelligence field, CoreWeave continued to show signs that it needs to take a break after stupendous gains.
The AI data center service provider slid more than 4% and made a session low of 145.82. While that's still well above a recent breakout point of 64.62, CoreWeave has pierced below its 21-day exponential moving average for the first time in months. This means the large-cap tech might be changing in character, compared with its bullish action over the past four weeks of trading.
The stock still has a tremendous amount of cushion above its rising 50-day line, which began forming in early June and has risen to near 120.
"We're seeing growing demand for AI-specialized infrastructure, as evidenced by moves like CoreWeave's acquisition of Core Scientific. What's most interesting now is how the value chain is evolving — with early signs of a shift from raw access to architectural efficiency," said Natalie Hwang, founder and managing partner of Apeira Capital, a New York-based private-market investment firm.
"As the ecosystem matures, we expect the next wave of differentiation to come from those who can deliver sustained performance, optimized inference, and tighter vertical integration," Hwang added. "We're entering a compelling new phase where infrastructure is becoming a source of strategic differentiation."
Astera Labs attempted a breakout from deep within its base, but the innovator in interconnect technology for high-performance computing got slammed after briefly rising above 100. Shares fell more than 6% to as low as 93.12. That's well below an early buy point at 101.82.
Astera holds a 92 Composite Rating. First-quarter profit jumped 267% to 33 cents a share on a 144% leap in sales to $159.4 million.
9:43 a.m. ET
Nvidia, Tesla Climb; Kellogg Soars On Buyout Deal
Early movers on the stock market today were Nvidia and Tesla. Tesla rebounded 3.5%, looking to bounce back from heavy losses in recent sessions. Nvidia stock gained 0.4%, just shy of another new high.
Elsewhere, Italian candy maker Ferrero reached a roughly $3 billion deal to buy the breakfast-cereal giant WK Kellogg, it was announced Thursday.
Kellogg shares soared more than 30% in response Thursday morning.
9:09 a.m. ET
Stock Market Today: Delta Flies On Earnings
Delta stock soared 12% higher in premarket action Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter before the open and gave an upbeat outlook for the summer quarter. It also restored full-year targets.
The carrier reported earnings of $2.10 a share, ahead of analyst projections for $2.06 a share. Sales came in at $15.5 billion, slightly ahead of the $15.46 billion estimate.
Other big carriers rose as Delta kicked off the airline earnings season. American Airlines surged more than 7% while United Airlines jumped nearly 9%. Alaska Air bolted 6% higher as Southwest Airlines climbed 3%
8:46 a.m. ET
Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Drop
The Labor Department's weekly unemployment claims unexpectedly dropped to 227,000 vs. 233,000 in the previous week. They were anticipated to rise to 238,000.
The news doesn't bode well for the possible lowering of interest rates, as the jobless numbers are considered to be a sign of a healthy economy without need for stimulation from the Federal Reserve.
8:06 a.m. ET
Nvidia Chipmaker TSMC Rallies On Strong Sales
Early Thursday, Nvidia chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor, better known as TSMC, reported that second-quarter sales jumped nearly 39% vs. a year earlier in Taiwanese dollars, or up 46% in U.S. dollars, beating views. Second-quarter earnings are due in a week.
TSMC stock climbed 0.5% early Thursday.
Stock Market Today: Trump Tariff News, Jobless Claims
Wall Street continues to await more tariff news from President Donald Trump.
Late Wednesday, Trump said that a 50% U.S. tariff on imported copper will take effect Aug. 1. Trump also announced a 50% tariff on Brazil, calling the U.S.' ties with the South American nation a "very unfair trade relationship" in a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Trump posted the letter on his Truth Social account.
Elsewhere, weekly jobless claims from the Labor Department are due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Claims are expected to rise to 238,000 after an unexpected decline to 233,000 in the previous week, according to Econoday estimates.
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.
Please follow Chung on X/Twitter: @saitochung and @IBD_DChung.
