The Dow Jones Industrial Average and other major indexes were narrowly mixed near midday Thursday on the final trading day of March. Big leaders like Nvidia, Super Micro Computer, and Arm could see some window dressing in the stock market today as companies close their books on the first quarter.
“Window dressing” refers to when fund managers buy top-performing stocks just so they can show them as holdings in their quarterly reports. But Nvidia, Super Micro, and Arm were flat to slightly lower Thursday. After a break of the 10-day moving average Wednesday in higher volume, Nvidia could be poised for a test of its 21-day line near 877.
Walt Disney and Intel were top gainers in the Dow Jones, with gains of more than 1%. Disney stock has turned into a top performer after gapping up on earnings in February. But Intel stock is still on a downtrend after gapping down on earnings Jan. 26. Merck was flat in the Dow Jones index. Shares surged nearly 5% Wednesday after the Food and Drug Administration approved Merck’s drug to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Small caps outperformed, with the Russell 2000 index up 0.9%. The small-cap index broke out above its March 8 high of 210.41. The Nasdaq composite, S&P 500, and Dow Jones were nearly unchanged. Advancing stocks beat decliners on the Nasdaq by more than 2-to-1. Winners beat losers on the NYSE by just over 3-to-1.
Tesla fell 1.7% after an analyst lowered its price target. Top gainers in the S&P 500 included Capital One Financial and Discover Financial Services. Bitcoin jumped 4% and moved back above the $70,000 level. But leading bitcoin stock MicroStrategy reversed sharply lower.
The stock market has been dealing with signs of distribution in the S&P 500 in recent weeks. Economic news showed jobless claims totaling 210,000 last week and the final revision to Q4 GDP coming in at 3.4%. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions moved closer to a buy point. Palantir took heat after a downgrade.
Stocks on the move included software provider AvidXchange, which rallied nearly 2%. The stock market will be closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday. The bond market will be open, and a key inflation report will be released.
The 10-year Treasury yield ticked lower to 4.19%. West Texas intermediate crude oil futures rose more than 1% to near $82.50 a barrel. ArchRock, a provider of natural gas compression services, added more than 3% and reclaimed a buy point. The Innovator IBD 50 ETF outperformed the main stock market with a 0.3% increase.
