Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Comes to Life in Raucous Rebound
The Nasdaq reversed course from its quickest-ever correction with sizable gains Wednesday, led by the usual suspects.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Delivered daily
Kiplinger Today
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more delivered daily. Smart money moves start here.
Sent five days a week
Kiplinger A Step Ahead
Get practical help to make better financial decisions in your everyday life, from spending to savings on top deals.
Delivered daily
Kiplinger Closing Bell
Get today's biggest financial and investing headlines delivered to your inbox every day the U.S. stock market is open.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Adviser Intel
Financial pros across the country share best practices and fresh tactics to preserve and grow your wealth.
Delivered weekly
Kiplinger Tax Tips
Trim your federal and state tax bills with practical tax-planning and tax-cutting strategies.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Retirement Tips
Your twice-a-week guide to planning and enjoying a financially secure and richly rewarding retirement
Sent bimonthly.
Kiplinger Adviser Angle
Insights for advisers, wealth managers and other financial professionals.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Investing Weekly
Your twice-a-week roundup of promising stocks, funds, companies and industries you should consider, ones you should avoid, and why.
Sent weekly for six weeks
Kiplinger Invest for Retirement
Your step-by-step six-part series on how to invest for retirement, from devising a successful strategy to exactly which investments to choose.
The Nasdaq Composite, fresh off its quickest 10% correction in history (just three sessions!), energetically bounced back Wednesday despite little in the way of fresh drivers.
AstraZeneca (AZN, -1.9%) said late Tuesday that it had to put its COVID-19 vaccine trial on hold when an "adverse reaction" triggered an automatic pause in the study – a common occurrence, but one that raised plenty of eyebrows given the heavy scrutiny on coronavirus-related trials.
Also, the Labor Department reported that new hires fell from 7 million in June to 5.8 million in July, though job openings rose to a higher-than-expected 6.62 million.
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
The major indices powered ahead nonetheless. Big moves in Apple (AAPL, +4.0%), Microsoft (MSFT, +4.3%) and other tech stocks pushed the Nasdaq 2.7% higher to 11,141.
Other action in the stock market today:
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 1.6% higher to 27,940.
- The S&P 500 gained 2.0% to close at 3,398.
- The Russell 2000 climbed 1.5% to 1,528.
- Lululemon Athletica (LULU, -7.4%) plunged despite a big earnings beat of 74 cents per share (versus 55 cents per share expected) and 2% revenue growth that surprised analysts, who were looking for quarterly sales to decline.
- Slack Technologies (WORK, -13.9%) suffered one of its worst single-day losses since its June 2019 initial public offering despite beating both official top- and bottom-line expectations for the quarter. Wedbush’s Daniel Ives, who rates WORK at Underperform, says, “The main focus of investors this morning will be Slack's billings miss with the company surprisingly missing expectations which will be a shock to the bulls anticipating a clean beat.”
Beware a Dead-Cat Bounce?
So what sent stocks soaring on Wednesday? You could argue that any setbacks on the vaccine front are a boon for tech stocks, as cloud companies, e-commerce firms and other work-from-home picks directly benefit from Americans continuing to have to do more digitally.
But the rally was more than just tech – every sector was in the black today.
As we pointed out in our free A Step Ahead email newsletter, the market might have just sold off too far too fast.
"The continuation of last week's sell off into the new week has pushed U.S. equities into oversold territory on a short-term basis," writes Dan Wantrobski, technical strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. "While short-term conditions indicate a potential bounce/oversold rally ahead, we believe there may be more to this corrective cycle ahead.
"This is because recent leadership areas remain very overbought on the longer-term charts – even after the last few days. This implies we could see further consolidation efforts in the weeks ahead as we make our way through September and toward elections."
As we said to start September, this month could be a wild one. For some, that means playing defense, but keep your wish list handy, too – you never know when a quick market dip can provide better values on some of Wall Street's top stocks. That could include these 20 income-rich retirement plays, which are built to last for decades.
Kyle Woodley was long MSFT as of this writing.
-
How Much It Costs to Host a Super Bowl Party in 2026Hosting a Super Bowl party in 2026 could cost you. Here's a breakdown of food, drink and entertainment costs — plus ways to save.
-
3 Reasons to Use a 5-Year CD As You Approach RetirementA five-year CD can help you reach other milestones as you approach retirement.
-
Your Adult Kids Are Doing Fine. Is It Time To Spend Some of Their Inheritance?If your kids are successful, do they need an inheritance? Ask yourself these four questions before passing down another dollar.
-
Nasdaq Slides 1.4% on Big Tech Questions: Stock Market TodayPalantir Technologies proves at least one publicly traded company can spend a lot of money on AI and make a lot of money on AI.
-
Stocks Close Down as Gold, Silver Spiral: Stock Market TodayA "long-overdue correction" temporarily halted a massive rally in gold and silver, while the Dow took a hit from negative reactions to blue-chip earnings.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into AMD Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayAdvanced Micro Devices stock is soaring thanks to AI, but as a buy-and-hold bet, it's been a market laggard.
-
Nasdaq Drops 172 Points on MSFT AI Spend: Stock Market TodayMicrosoft, Meta Platforms and a mid-cap energy stock have a lot to say about the state of the AI revolution today.
-
S&P 500 Tops 7,000, Fed Pauses Rate Cuts: Stock Market TodayInvestors, traders and speculators will probably have to wait until after Jerome Powell steps down for the next Fed rate cut.
-
S&P 500 Hits New High Before Big Tech Earnings, Fed: Stock Market TodayThe tech-heavy Nasdaq also shone in Tuesday's session, while UnitedHealth dragged on the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average.
-
Dow Rises 313 Points to Begin a Big Week: Stock Market TodayThe S&P 500 is within 50 points of crossing 7,000 for the first time, and Papa Dow is lurking just below its own new all-time high.
-
Nasdaq Leads Ahead of Big Tech Earnings: Stock Market TodayPresident Donald Trump is making markets move based on personal and political as well as financial and economic priorities.
