Stocks end mixed; Dow up for tenth straight day

Investors are still debating the prospects for longer term rate hikes and thus there continues to be a choppy migration from tech to the more traditional Dow. In fact, all the indexes were up all day until about 1:30, the Dow up over a hundred points, before falling with everyone closing near break-even, except for the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which went into the red. The Dow is up for the 10^th straight day, up 6% so far for the year, the S&P up 18%, the Nasdaq 34.  Looking at the bright side as today’s expert put it, “The rally is not just tech heavy anymore.”  Volume was light at 10.4 billion. 

Stocks end mixed; Dow up for tenth straight day

By Noel Randewich and Bansari Mayur Kamdar

Fri July 21, 2023 4:24 PM

DJ: 35,225.18  +163.97       NAS: 14,063.31  -294.71       S&P: 4,534.87  -30.85      7/20

DJ: 35,227.69  +2.51           NAS: 14,032.81  -30.50         S&P: 4,536.34  +1.47       7/21

 July 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rising marginally to notch its 10th straight day of advances, its longest rally in almost six years.  The blue-chip index was lifted by gains of more than 1% each in Procter & Gamble (PG.N) and Chevron (CVX.N). It is now up over 6% in 2023, compared to the S&P 500's (.SPX) 18% rise.

"The Dow playing catch-up shows there is a rotation into other sectors, like healthcare and financials. The rally is not just tech-heavy anymore," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Nvidia (NVDA.O) and Meta Platforms (META.O) lost more than 2% each in a choppy trading session, while the S&P 500 utilities sector (.SPLRCU) jumped 1.5%, followed by a 1% rise in the healthcare sector index (.SPXHC). Netflix (NFLX.O) dipped 2.3%, down for a second straight day after the video streaming company's quarterly results this week failed to impress.

Analysts attributed Friday's volatile trading to the expiration of monthly options and the expected special rebalancing of the multi-trillion dollar Nasdaq 100 (.NDX) following the close of trading.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.03% to end at 4,536.34 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.22% to 14,032.81 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.01% to 35,227.69 points. For the week, the S&P 500 added 0.7%, the Nasdaq fell 0.6% and the Dow rose 2.1%.  The Nasdaq has rallied about 34% this year, lifted by optimism over artificial intelligence, a relatively resilient U.S. economy and expectations that the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hike cycle will end soon.

While the Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points at its July 25-26 meeting, investors have mixed views on the central bank's longer-term monetary policy.

American Express (AXP.N) fell 3.9% after the credit card giant missed quarterly revenue estimates and affirmed its full-year profit forecast.  SLB (SLB.N) declined 2.2% after the top oilfield services firm missed quarterly revenue expectations due to moderating drilling activity in North America.

Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 (.AD.SPX) by a 1.5-to-one ratio.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with 10.4 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 10.6 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.