Stock market news for May 24, 2024

U.S. stocks ended Friday’s trading session in the green.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7% and 1.1%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up around 4 points, or just 0.01%.

— Hakyung Kim

Communication services rose 1.1% Friday, leading the S&P 500’s sector gains.

News Corporation gained 3.2%, outperforming the broader sector. Live Nation also rebounded more than 3% after falling more than 7% Thursday following a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice.

— Hakyung Kim

Crude oil futures bounced back from three-month lows on Friday but are still heading to a weekly loss.

U.S. crude oil hit an intraday low of $76.15 in morning trading, the lowest level since Feb. 26. Global benchmark Brent fell to $80.65, the lowest level since Feb. 8.

The two benchmarks turned positive later in the session but are on pace for a weekly loss of about 3.2% and 2.5%, respectively.

More on oil prices can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim, Spencer Kimball

Even as big tech names power the market higher and dominate headlines, there are signs of broadening, according to Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird.

“While there was some angst last year over heavy concentration in Big Tech stocks, the market has broadened out significantly in recent months,” Mayfield said.

He noted that “While concentrated markets have not historically led to bad returns, it is usually a sign of a healthier economy when breadth — the number of individual stocks and sectors that are doing well — is better (more legs supporting the stool, so to speak).”

— Hakyung Kim

Artificial intelligence is even more of a buzz word in corporate America as the technology continues to infatuate society.

So far this earnings season, 199 companies in the S&P 500 have cited AI on calls, according to FactSet data. That surpassed the prior record of 182 set in the second quarter of 2023 to become the highest going back to at least 2014.

By comparison, the average number of company mentions over the past five years is just 80.

Among those 199 companies, “AI” came up an average of 11 times. The term was mentioned at least 50 times on the calls of 12 companies including Meta, Nvidia and Microsoft.

— Alex Harring

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading:

Ross Stores — The discount retailer popped nearly 10% on strong first-quarter results. Ross Stores posted earnings of $1.46 per share on $4.86 billion in revenue. That topped the earnings per share of $1.35 and $4.83 billion in revenue expected by analysts polled by LSEG.

Booz Allen Hamilton — The defense contractor’s shares added 3.8% on the heels of a quarterly revenue and earnings beat. Booz Allen posted adjusted earnings of $1.33 per share in its fiscal fourth quarter, while analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $1.23 in earnings per share. Revenue came out at $2.77 billion, slightly higher than analysts’ forecast of $2.72 billion.

Coinbase — Shares of the crypto services firm jumped 5% after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule change Thursday evening that opens the doors to exchange-traded funds that buy and hold ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency. Robinhood gained 3.9%.

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is on pace to lose around 2% for the week. Shares of Boeing and Home Depot, which are down 6.7% and 5.2% for the week, respectively, have pulled down the index.

Out of the 30 stocks in the Dow, only Microsoft, Walmart, IBM and Apple are positive week to date.

— Hakyung Kim

The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index results released Friday showed that consumers hold greater uncertainty about future buying plans, which could pressure spending in the summer, according to LPL Financial.

“The Fed believes the risks to the outlook are roughly in balance so inflation has to convincingly ease before the Fed cuts rates. What we learned from this final estimate from UofM is consumer spending could slow, easing up inflationary pressures from the demand side of the economy,” said chief economist Jeffrey Roach.

Although the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index for May beat estimates, the reading fell on a monthly basis to the lowest level since November 2023. The final reading, posted Friday, was 69.1, versus 77.2 in April.

— Hakyung Kim

The SonicShares Global Shipping ETF (BOAT) rose on Friday, helping the fund near the end of what is shaping up to be its sixth straight positive week.

The exchange-traded fund advanced about 2% and at one point, notched a new 52-week high in Friday’s session. With that, it was up 1.3% on the week.

This week’s gains have helped propel the ETF higher by 14.2% this month. If that holds, this will mark the fund’s best month since November 2022, when it jumped 14.3%.

— Alex Harring, Gina Francolla

Moderna shares have rallied 23% since the start of the week, leading the 0.7% rally in the concentrated Nasdaq 100 index.

The Nasdaq is the only major index poised for a weekly gain. Nvidia is the second-biggest winner, up nearly 13% on another strong report and guidance that showed ongoing artificial intelligence demand.

Other semiconductor stocks have skyrocketed alongside Nvidia, with Analog Devices and Qualcomm up 10.5% and about 7%, respectively. Marvell Technology and Lam Research have added about 6% each.

Temu owner PDD Holdings is poised for a 12% gain, while shares of Ross Stores have jumped more than 8%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance is the biggest laggard in the index, down more than 11% since the start of the week.

— Samantha Subin

Information technology is the only S&P 500 sector poised to finish the week with gains.

The sector is up 2.3% since the start of the week, boosted by gains from semiconductor and solar stocks. First Solar is the biggest winner in the sector, up 34% week to date, while Nvidia has surged about 13%. Analog Devices is poised for an 11% rally.

Other big weekly winners include Teradyne and Qualcomm, up at least 6%. Lam Research and Enphase Energy have added at least 5%.

— Samantha Subin

Wedbush thinks financial tech company Toast‘s strong run this year is not slowing down anytime soon.

Analyst Moshe Katri initiated coverage of Toast with an outperform rating and $30 price target, suggesting shares could jump 18.2% from Thursday’s close. Shares of the company, which makes products and services targeting the restaurant industry, are up about 39% this year.

The stock added 1.4% in premarket trading Friday.

“Given TOST’s robust location expansion in the U.S. (as well as nascent overseas success) and recent improvements in operating and financial metrics, we believe the company is well positioned to post 30% + YOY gross profit and adjusted EBITDA growth in CY24 and CY25, respectively,” Katri said in a Thursday note. “Given the company’s 340% EBITDA growth in 2024 and our expectation of 30%+ annual EBITDA growth for the foreseeable future (including in 2025), we believe such a multiple is justifiable.”

Among Katri’s several catalysts behind his new rating, he added that Toast is set to add more U.S. locations in 2024 and gradually increase its traction in international markets, and that management expects to reach break-even operating income by the end of the year. Toast can also leverage artificial intelligence to drive campaigns, he added.

— Pia Singh

U.S. stocks inched up to start off Friday’s trading session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 75 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added 0.3% each.

— Hakyung Kim

The iShares MSCI USA Momentum ETF (MTUM) hit its highest level in more than two years on Thursday despite the broad market sell-off.

The fund hit an intraday high of $191.49 per share, its highest since November 2021, and is now up 6.5% month to date.

The top performers in the fund this month include Vistra, Nvidia and Constellation Energy.

The MTUM fund is based on an index that considers six- and twelve-month price momentum. The index is rebalanced every quarter.

— Jesse Pound, Gina Francolla

Demand for long-lasting items such as appliances, cars and airplanes was much stronger than expected in April, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Durable goods orders rose 0.7% for the month, slightly below the 0.8% increase in March but far better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for a 1% decline. Excluding transportation items, orders still accelerated 0.4%. However, new orders were flat, excluding defense.

— Jeff Cox

Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading:

• Intuit — The TurboTax parent company slipped nearly 6% after issuing weaker-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter guidance. Intuit forecast adjusted earnings of $1.80 per share to $1.85 per share, while analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $1.92.
• Ross Stores — The discount apparel retailer stock added more than 7% on the heels of an earnings beat. The company notched earnings of $1.46 per share on $4.86 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by LSEG forecast $1.35 in earnings per share and $4.83 billion in revenue.
• Workday — The enterprise management company pulled back more than 11% after subscription revenue guidance for the second quarter slightly undershot analysts’ estimates. Workday forecast subscription revenue of $1.895 billion, while the consensus forecast called for $1.9 billion, according to StreetAccount. Cash from operations also disappointed, coming in at $372 million, while analysts anticipated $397.2 million.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

DuPont de Nemours‘ plan for a three-way split could help investors see the value of the underlying businesses, according to Wells Fargo.

Analyst Michael Sison raised his price target on the stock to $103 per share from $80. The new target is 30% above where DuPont’s stock closed Thursday. Sison said in a note to clients that a combination of the split and strong fundamental performance can lead to higher valuations for the individual stocks than DuPont as a whole.

“We estimate comps for the three new entities should support multiples in the mid-to-high teens. While it could take 2 years to execute the transaction, volume growth for each of the businesses should accelerate early on in an economic recovery, which tends to drive out performance for chemical companies,” the note said.

— Jesse Pound