Markets News, December 4, 2024: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Hit Record Highs as Tech Stocks Soar; Bitcoin Surges After Trump Names SEC Chair

Biggest S&P 500 Movers on Wednesday

3 hr 33 min ago

Advancers

• Shares of customer relationship management software provider Salesforce (CRM) led the S&P 500 higher on Wednesday, popping 11%. Several research analysts lifted their price targets on the stock after Salesforce boosted its full-year sales and profit guidance. Analysts noted that Agentforce, the company’s autonomous artificial intelligence offering, has been drawing attention from clients since its October launch.
• Salesforce was not the only enterprise software stock to enjoy strong gains. ServiceNow (NOW), which also offers AI solutions to help automate business processes, announced an expansion of its partnership with Amazon (AMZN), further integrating ServiceNow’s platform with Amazon’s Web Services and Bedrock generative AI capabilities. ServiceNow shares surged 6.2% on Wednesday, while Amazon shares were up 2.2%.
• Edwards Lifesciences (EW) shares added 5.7% after the medical device maker laid out its growth strategy at its annual investor conference. The specialist in structural heart solutions highlighted its pipeline of new technologies, upbeat financial outlook, and market opportunities from several of its heart valve repair and replacement treatments.

Decliners

• Shares of Texas Pacific Land (TPL) dropped 11.6%, suffering the heaviest daily decline in the S&P 500 for the second time this week. The stock has been volatile since its addition to the benchmark index late last month. A major landowner in the oil-rich Permian Basin, the century-old land trust has been exploring opportunities to diversify its revenue streams, including bitcoin mining and renewable energy projects.
• Campbell’s (CPB) shares sank 6.2% after the packaged food maker reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales, with elevated marketing expenses contributing to a year-over-year profit decline. CEO Mark Clouse said he would step down from his role at the soup and snack manufacturer to become president of the National Football League’s Washington Commanders.
• Bank of America’s commodities team reduced its lithium price outlook. Analysts noted that, even as high-cost producers of the key battery mineral scale back their operations, surplus conditions are likely to remain in the lithium market over the next two years. Shares of Albemarle (ALB), the world’s largest lithium miner, fell 5.9%.
• MarketAxess Holdings (MKTX) shares slipped 5.5% after the operator of an electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities released trading data from November. Although average daily trading volume grew 56% year-over-year, the figure fell 3% month-over-month. The platform saw sequential declines in volumes and market share in the U.S. high-grade and U.S. high-yield segments.

–Michael Bromberg

Major Indexes Keep Adding to Post-Election Gains

4 hr 4 min ago

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each hit intraday and closing highs on Wednesday, led by a rally in technology stocks, extending a month-long post-election rally.

Since the close of trading on election day, Nov. 5, the Nasdaq has gained 7%, while the Dow and the S&P 500 have added 6.6% and 5.3%, respectively.

Investors are optimistic that the incoming Trump administration and Republican-led Congress will implement pro-growth policies that will translate into strong corporate earnings and continued stock market gains.

Since the start of the year, the Nasdaq is now up 31.5%. The S&P 500 has risen 27.6%, while the Dow has tacked on 19.4%.

Chipotle Stock Climbs as Menu Prices Increase

5 hr 7 min ago

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) is raising prices across the U.S., the company said Wednesday. “For the first time in over a year, we have taken a modest price increase of approximately 2% nationally to offset inflation,” Chipotle Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Laurie Schalow said in an email to Investopedia. 

New Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Scott Boatwright, elevated to the top job last month, on the company’s most-recent earnings conference call in October said there was “nothing planned today, but that’s not to say we wouldn’t look at a pricing action at some point in the future.” A Wall Street Journal article last week alluded to the possibility of higher prices at Chipotle.

Shares of Chipotle rose 4.9% to $63.90 Wednesday, leaving them 40% higher this year so far. 

“The menu price increase is earlier than we … expected” and “a positive for the stock, in our view,” Truist Securities analysts wrote Wednesday. “We believe CMG is taking the menu price from a point of strength.” The analysts edged their price target on the shares up $2 to $74, a bit above Wall Street’s average of $68 per Visible Alpha data.

The effects of the menu price increases would likely be seen in the company’s fourth-quarter financial results, set for release in early February.

–David Marino-Nachison

Chewy Stock Slides After Weak Earnings

5 hr 56 min ago

Chewy (CHWY) shares fell Wednesday after the online pet supplies retailer missed profit forecasts as the number of active customers fell and costs rose.

The company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.20, while the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha was $0.23. Revenue rose 4.8% year-over-year to $2.88 billion, slightly more than expected.

Chewy said active customers declined 0.5% to 20.16 million and operating expenses rose 3.3% to $818.2 million.

Chewy anticipates current-quarter sales of $3.18 billion to $3.20 billion. It revised its full-year sales outlook to $11.79 billion to $11.81 billion from the previous $11.60 billion to $11.80 billion.

Chewy shares were down 4% in recent trading. Despite today’s decline, they’re up about 35% higher this year.

The stock has had an interesting run in 2024 after meme stock hero Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” took a large stake in the company over the summer, only to dump it a few months later.

–Bill McColl

Okta Stock Rises on Strong Earnings, Outlook

6 hr 46 min ago

Shares of Okta (OKTA) rose Wednesday, a day after the business security software provider posted better-than-expected results and current-quarter guidance as subscription revenue rose.

The company reported third-quarter fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.67, with revenue rising 14% year-over-year to $665 million. Both exceeded consensus estimates of analysts polled by Visible Alpha. Subscription revenue gained 14% to $651 million.

Okta anticipates fourth-quarter adjusted EPS in the range of $0.73 to $0.74, and revenue of $667 million to $669 million, ahead of forecasts.

Okta shares were up 5% in mid-afternoon trading, narrowing their year-to-date losses to about 5%.

–Bill McColl

Trump Names Paul Atkins to Lead SEC

7 hr 41 min ago

President-elect Donald Trump named Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), his latest move to fill key financial roles in the next administration. 

Atkins, CEO of Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Patomak Global Partners, was an SEC Commissioner under former President George W. Bush and has worked lately on issues related to digital assets—a subject expected to be a focus of the incoming Trump administration.

“Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations,” Trump wrote Wednesday on the Truth Social platform.

 “He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”

The SEC is broadly responsible for oversight of financial markets and investor protection. Atkins, who would require Senate confirmation, would succeed Gary Gensler, who last month said he would step down in January. 

Trump recently named billionaire hedge-fund manager Scott Bessent his pick for Treasury Secretary and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department. Media reports have also suggested that Trump is considering possible replacements for Fed Chair Jerome Powell. 

Trump likely would have the opportunity to replace several SEC commissioners whose terms are set to expire during his administration. 

–David Marino-Nachison

Wall Street Bullish on Salesforce Amid AI Demand

9 hr 11 min ago

Salesforce (CRM) shares jumped to a record high Wednesday after the company raised its full-year outlook, and analysts are offering increasingly bullish price targets. 

Stifel maintained its “outperform” rating and raised its price target to $425 from $390.

The firm called Salesforce “the best way to play AI” due to its multi-cloud customer base and its ability to “drive market penetration” with its Customer 360 customer relationship management platform.

Then there’s Agentforce, Salesforce’s suite of autonomous AI agents made generally available on October 25. Agentforce was included in 200 deals in the quarter, “underscoring healthy early interest,” analysts at Bank of America said.

 The bank upped its price target to $440 from $390.

Salesforce has “a combined market share of only 15% and a formidable competitive moat,” BofA added. “[W]e believe a long runway exists for Salesforce to continue growing.”

Salesforce shares were up 8% at around $358 in recent trading.

–Andrew Kessel

Marvell Levels to Watch as Stock Soars After Strong Earnings

9 hr 48 min ago

Marvell Technology (MRVL) jumped Wednesday morning after the chipmaker posted strong quarterly results and issued a rosy outlook amid robust demand for its custom AI chips.

The stock broke out from an ascending triangle on above-average volume early this week, a bullish chart pattern that indicates a continuation of the uptrend.

A bars pattern, which takes the price bars from the stock’s trending move between October and November and repositions them from the ascending triangle’s lower trendline, forecasts a price target of around $120.

Investors should monitor important support levels on Marvell’s chart around $95, $84 and $76.

The stock was up 22% at around $117 in recent trading and is up about 90% since the start of 2024.

Read the full technical analysis piece here.

Foot Locker Stock Slides on Surprise Loss, Slashed Guidance

11 hours ago

Foot Locker (FL) shares tumbled Wednesday after the company posted an unexpected third-quarter loss and cut its full-year outlook. 

The athletic sneaker retailer reported a loss of $33 million or 34 cents per share, compared to a profit of $28 million or 30 cents per share a year earlier. Analysts tracked by Visible Alpha had called for profit to increase year-over-year to $37 million. Revenue was $1.96 billion, down 1.4% year-over-year and above the Street’s expectations. 

CEO Mary Dillon said the loss occurred as “[c]onsumer spending trends softened following the peak back-to-school period” and “the promotional environment was more elevated than anticipated.” Selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A), which includes marketing spending, rose 8% year-over-year to $482 million. 

Foot Locker also got more conservative with its full-year forecast. It now expects sales to fall between 1.5% and 1% from $8.15 billion in 2023, compared to a prior range of a 1% loss to 1% growth. Adjusted earnings per share are expected to land between $1.20 and $1.30, down from $1.50 to $1.70. Analysts had called for $1.55.

Shares of Foot Locker were down 12% in recent trading and have lost nearly a third of their value since the beginning of the year.

–Andrew Kessel

Dollar Tree Stock Rises as Earnings Top Estimates

11 hr 32 min ago

Dollar Tree (DLTR) shares rose Wednesday morning after the discount retailer reported better-than-expected third-quarter results.

The company recorded $7.57 billion in revenue and $233.3 million in net income, up from $7.31 billion and $212.0 million a year ago.

The company the projects full-year revenue of between $30.7 billion and $30.9 billion, with the bottom end lifted from $30.6 billion previously. Full-year adjusted earnings per share (EPS) is seen between $5.31 and $5.51, compared with the previous range of $5.20 to $5.60.

Dollar Tree said that its “strategic review” of options for the Family Dollar brand announced in June “remains on track,” with no set timeline to be completed. Roughly a decade after Dollar Tree acquired the brand, a sale or spinoff remains a possibility.

Of the nearly 1,000 “underperforming” Family Dollar locations that the company said it planned to shut down earlier this year, Dollar Tree has closed about 670 through Q3, and expects to close another 25 in the fourth quarter.

Dollar Tree shares jumped 5% at the open Wednesday and were up about 1.5% recently. The stock has lost half its value since the start of the year.

–Aaron McDade

Palantir Levels to Watch as Stock Hits Record High

12 hr 48 min ago

Palantir (PLTR) shares are likely to remain in focus today after jumping to a new high yesterday following news that the analytics software provider’s entire product suite has received approval for use in processing sensitive federal workloads.

Since breaking out from a pennant last week, Palantir shares have continued to trend higher, with gains accelerating following Tuesday’s news.

While the relative strength index confirms bullish price momentum above the 70 threshold, the indicator also flashes overbought conditions that could lead to short-term profit-taking.

The measuring principle, which calculates the distance of the impulsive trend that preceded the pennant and adds that amount to the pattern’s upper trendline, forecasts an upside price target in the stock of $89.

Investors should watch important support levels on Palantir’s chart around $58.50, $45, and $38.

Palantir shares were up 1% at $71.70 about an hour before Wednesday’s opening bell. The stock gained nearly 7% on Tuesday.

Read the full technical analysis piece here.

–Timothy Smith

Major Stock Indexes Poised to Open Higher

13 hr 19 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.4%.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.3%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.7%.