Chipmakers Tick Up As Nvidia Halts Sell-Off, Dollar Rises As Traders Revise Fed Wagers: What's Driving Markets Friday?

Author: Piero Cingari | August 30, 2024 01:12pm

Wall Street is seeing a relatively timid session, with the major indices displaying a slight negative performance.

While a timid rebound in semiconductor stocks is taking shape, aided by NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s pause of the sell-off in the previous session, the Dow Jones edged lower after reaching record highs the day before.

The weak risk sentiment on Friday threatens to end the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100's streak of three consecutive weekly rallies

The AI darling rose by 1% by midday in New York, contributing to the positive momentum in chipmakers, buoyed by strong earnings from Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) and MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ:MDB).

On the data front, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge — the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Price Index — remained flat in July, breaking a three-month streak of declines.

While the index came in slightly below expectations of an increase, personal spending and income data accelerated more than anticipated, indicating that the positive momentum among U.S. consumers extended into the first month of the current quarter.

The dollar gained 0.3% on the back of the economic data, as traders trimmed expectations on a large 50-basis-point rate cut in September. The greenback’s strength pressured commodities: gold dropped 0.7%, while oil declined by 2.7%.

The sentiment in the cryptocurrency market remains negative, with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) down 2.3%.

Friday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg
Nasdaq 100	19,367.31	0.2%
S&P 500	5,588.51	-0.1%
Dow Jones	41,177.11	-0.4%
Russell 2000	2,192.94	-0.4%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 0.1% lower to $557.38.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) fell 0.4% to $412.33.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) was up 0.1% to $470.97.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) fell 0.6% to $217.58.
• The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) outperformed, up by 0.1%. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) lagged, down by 0.7%.

Friday’s Stock Movers

• Marvell Technology Inc. rose 9.1%; eer MongoDB Inc. soared 16%.
• Other stocks reacting to company earnings included Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) up 1.7%, Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) up 3%, Elastic N.V. (NYSE:ESTC) down over 27%, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) down about 0.7% and Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) down 4.3%).
• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) soared by 7.7% after rumors indicating he company is considering options, including separating its product design and manufacturing divisions.

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Photo: Lucky Photographer via Shutterstock

Posted In: $BTC ADSK DELL DIA ESTC INTC IWM LULU MDB MRVL NVDA QQQ SPY ULTA XLE XLI XLK XLRE