Stock market news for June 4, 2024

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher on Tuesday as investors sought to claw their way back from a losing start to June.

The 30-stock Dow added 140.26 points, or 0.36%, to close at 38,711.29. The S&P 500 ticked up 0.15% to finish the session at 5,291.34, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.17% to 16,857.05.

— Brian Evans

Tuesday’s moves, albeit muted, should raise some concern for investors, according to Rosenberg Research founder David Rosenberg.

“The fact that equities are not responding well to the renewed pullback in Treasury yields and the swaps market beginning to price in a September rate cut is signaling something important: that stock market investors are also becoming concerned about the economic slowdown and what it means for the earnings outlook,” Rosenberg said in a post on social media site X.

The S&P 500 traded 0.2% lower Tuesday afternoon, while the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield slid 7 basis points to 4.3%.

— Fred Imbert

Matthew Bartolini, head of SPDR Americas research for State Street Global Advisors, highlighted the following facts in a note to clients about ETF flows in May:

• Bond ETFs raked in $28 billion of net inflows. Investors appear to be building a “barbell” in fixed income, with government bonds and risk-on credit being popular. Bank loan and CLO ETFs were relative winners.
• U.S. equity ETFs added $50 million even as sector funds suffered outflows on the whole.
• Active ETFs have taken in more than $108 billion of inflows this year, a record pace. This is 33% of all net inflows for a group that is just 7% of the overall ETF market.

— Jesse Pound

The market does not need rate cuts to rally, according to Deutsche Bank’s Binky Chadha.

“I don’t think that we need rate cuts for the market to go up,” the chief global strategist told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Tuesday. “House view is for one cut, but all the way in December.”

The firm remains “constructive equities,” he added.

— Samantha Subin

Bank of America Securities clients were net sellers of U.S. equities last week, with tech stocks taking the biggest hit, according to the bank.

Overall, equities and tech stocks both logged their largest outflows since last July, analyst Jill Carey Hall wrote in a note Tuesday. It was the fourth-largest outflow for overall equities in Bank of America’s history since 2008. Tech stocks saw their second-largest outflow since 2008.

Institutional and hedge fund clients were net sellers, while retail clients were net buyers, she said. The sell-off was led by large/mid-caps, while clients bought small caps.

Clients also sold equity exchange-traded funds for the second week in a row, led by small-cap ETFs and blend/growth ETFs, Hall said. Clients bought large/mid/broad market and value ETFs, she said.

— Michelle Fox

During Tuesday’s trading session, 10 stocks in the S&P 500 hit new 52-week highs.

Of these names, seven stocks reached new all-time highs.

Here are the tickers that met this milestone:

— Lisa Kailai Han, Christopher Hayes

ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak said in a note to clients that the drop in job openings reported Tuesday should not be a cause for alarm.

While job openings hit their lowest level in more than two years, the rates of hires and quits both held up, which are typically positive signs about the labor market, according to Pollak.

“Note that much of the decline in openings was driven by health care and social assistance, where hires and quits rose most sharply. In other words, the decline could be more of a statistical blip than a warning sign,” the note said.

— Jesse Pound

Indian stocks plunged during Tuesday’s trading session following Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declaring victory in the country’s election as his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), looks poised to lose its outright majority in the government.

The WisdomTree India Earnings ETF (EPI) was down around 8% and is on pace for its worst day since March 23, 2020. The iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA) was down around 6.5% on the news.

The rupee also weakened 0.5% against the U.S. dollar, putting it at around 83.53 to the dollar.

The BJP is currently likely to win around 240 seats, which is below the 272 seats needed for a majority. This would mean he needs the support of other parties to secure a historic third term.

— Sean Conlon

Here are the stocks on the move midday:

• Bath & Body Works — Shares of Bath & Body Works sank 14% and headed for their worst day since 2021. The retailer beat first-quarter earnings and revenue estimates but offered disappointing second-quarter guidance. Bath & Body Works expects earnings to range between 31 cents and 36 cents a share, behind a FactSet estimate of 38 cents in earnings per share.
• Carnival — Shares popped 4.8% after the cruise company announced it will fold P&O Cruises Australia into Carnival Cruise Line. The company said it was the latest in a series of strategic moves aimed to increase capacity for its flagship brand.
• GameStop — The meme stock retreated about 5% following a 21% rally Monday. The advance was sparked by GameStop champion Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” who shared a screenshot of his portfolio showing five million common shares and 120,000 call option contracts. He seemingly held onto his positions after Monday’s rally. GameStop closed well off highs Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported Gill’s brokerage E-Trade was debating whether to ban him from the platform for concerns over potential market manipulation.

Read the full list here.

— Sean Conlon

Bath & Body Works headed for its worst day in more than three years as the retailer’s current-quarter guidance disappointed Wall Street.

Shares tumbled more than 11% in late morning trading. If that holds through session close, it will mark the stock’s worst day since a 12.7% drop on Jan. 27, 2021.

Tuesday’s leg down came despite the Columbus-based company exceeding the expectations of analysts polled by FactSet for first-quarter earnings. Bath & Body Works said to anticipate between 31 cents and 36 cents in earnings per share for the second quarter, under the Wall Street consensus forecast of 38 cents. For the full year, the firm issued a range for earnings that included the average analyst’s estimate.

— Alex Harring

Job openings declined more than expected in April to their lowest level in more than three years, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.

Employment vacancies fell to 8.06 million, down from 8.36 million in April and below the Dow Jones estimate for 8.4 million. Hires, separations and quits edged up for the month.

— Jeff Cox

Stocks faced further pressure on Tuesday, with all three major indexes opening lower and continuing a slow start to June.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 165 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 ticked down 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1%.

— Brian Evans

Las Vegas-based Axos Financial tumbled 17% premarket Tuesday after Hindenburg Research issued a report telling readers Axos faces “glaring commercial real estate loan problems” and has been a “lax” underwriter of loans at the same time as the bank being a “priced-for-perfection bank.” Hindenburg said it opened a short position in Axos.

Axos beat analysts’ earnings estimates when it reported fiscal third-quarter results at the end of April. Earnings per share excluding one-time items came in at $1.94 against a consensus estimate of $1.70, while net interest income totaled $261.6 million against forecasts of $247.9 million and net interest margin reached 4.87% versus a FactSet consensus of 4.74%.

Axos is down 4% in 2024 after soaring 43% in 2023.

Shares of GameStop fell about 5% in premarket trading Tuesday following a 21% rally in the previous session.

Meme stock leader Keith Gill,  whose handle is “DeepF——Value” on Reddit and “Roaring Kitty” on YouTube and social media site X, appeared to hold onto his five million shares of GameStop and 120,000 call options, according to a new screenshot he shared on Reddit after the bell Monday.

The value of his common stock stake alone jumped to $140 million from $115.7 million in a single day.

— Yun Li

Here are the stocks on the move before the bell:

• Intel — Shares rose more than 1% in the premarket after the company announced new artificial intelligence chips aimed at competing with those from rivals Nvidia and AMD.
• GameStop — GameStop slipped 2% following a 21% rally on Monday amid speculation that meme stock trader Keith Gill could hold a major position in the video game retailer. The Wall Street Journal reported that E-Trade is weighing Gill from the platform due to market manipulation concerns.
• Bath & Body Works — Shares of the home fragrance and personal care retailer dropped 9%. Bath & Body Works topped first-quarter earnings and revenue estimates but shared disappointing guidance for the current period.

Read the full list here.

— Samantha Subin

Intel shares rose more than 1% in the premarket after the company announced new artificial intelligence chips aimed at competing with those from rivals Nvidia and AMD. Despite the AI boom, Intel is down nearly 40% year to date, while Nvidia and AMD are up 132% and 11% during that time, respectively.

— Fred Imbert

CNBC has learned through sources that Alphabet is cutting at least 100 jobs from several teams across its fast-growing cloud unit. Employees were notified of the layoffs last week, with roles in sales, consulting and other departments being eliminated.

Alphabet shares were down 0.4% in the premarket.

— Jennifer Elias, Fred Imbert

European markets opened lower Tuesday as positive momentum over the past few days falters.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.23% in opening trade, with all major bourses and the vast majority of sectors in the red. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.33% at 8,235, Germany’s DAX was 0.37% lower at 18,538, France’s CAC was down 0.35% at 7,970 and Italy’s MIB was 0.5% lower at 34,490.

— Shreyashi Sanyal, Charmaine Jacob