Stock Market Today: Stocks Grind Ahead, Tesla Keeps Sprinting
Tesla (TSLA) and energy stocks were high points of an otherwise subdued Tuesday of trading for the major indices.
The market finished an up-and-down session with modest gains Tuesday as Wall Street weighed two good news/bad news situations.
In Washington, the incoming Biden administration is signaling a third stimulus check, but tensions are high as at least 10,000 National Guard troops are being deployed to protect the capital city from additional threats of violence in the wake of last week's attack on the Capitol.
Meanwhile, the federal government is expected to announce steps to speed up national COVID-19 vaccination after a turbulent rollout, but that comes as a more-contagious mutant strain continues to make inroads.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-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.
Tesla (TSLA, +4.7%) was a bright spot – the best S&P 500 stock of 2020 brought its 2021 gains to 20.4% after Citi analyst Jeff Chung said a new sedan from China's Nio (NIO, -1.2%) was "good but not enough to make any critical changes from Tesla's challenge."
Also on the rise were energy stocks (XLE, +3.6%) after U.S. crude oil futures jumped 1.8% to hit an 11-month high of $53.21 per barrel.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.2% to 31,068, and the small-cap Russell 2000 climbed 1.7% to hit a new high of 2,127.
Other action in the stock market today:
- The S&P 500 produced a marginal gain to 3,801.
- The Nasdaq Composite improved by 0.3% to 13,072.
- Gold futures improved, too, settling up 0.4% to $1,844.20 per ounce.
- Bitcoin prices, at $33,300 on Monday, improved to $34,300. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day.)
What Do the Machines Have to Say About Stocks?
We look at all the mental muscle Wall Street has to offer in our stock coverage. Any single investor is limited to their own biases, their own ideas about risk and their own goals, and so it serves readers better to present a wider array of viewpoints.
Consider our best stocks for 2021, which does include some staff picks, but also several stocks recommended by some of the industry's best fund managers. Wall Street's analyst community is useful to gauge, too, given how much more closely they're able to study firms compared to the average investor. And from time to time, we even tap the billionaire brain trust, as their sizable resources and valuable connections can provide insights that most of us simply don't have.
Today, however, we've switched things up by handing it over to the machines.
Danel Capital, a financial advice company, boasts an interesting artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm – one that analyzes fundamental data, stock charts and even sentiment from investors like us – that has consistently "hand-picked" winners that have trounced the broader market over the past few years.
We're curious about how this system will fare in what's already proving to be another bizarre year, so we've highlighted the algo's top picks … and checked in with other experts to see what they think. Check it out.
Disclaimer
Kyle Woodley was long Bitcoin and NIO as of this writing.
To continue reading this article
please register for free
This is different from signing in to your print subscription
Why am I seeing this? Find out more here
Kyle Woodley is the Editor-in-Chief of WealthUp, a site dedicated to improving the personal finances and financial literacy of people of all ages. He also writes the weekly The Weekend Tea newsletter, which covers both news and analysis about spending, saving, investing, the economy and more.
Kyle was previously the Senior Investing Editor for Kiplinger.com, and the Managing Editor for InvestorPlace.com before that. His work has appeared in several outlets, including Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Barchart, The Globe & Mail and the Nasdaq. He also has appeared as a guest on Fox Business Network and Money Radio, among other shows and podcasts, and he has been quoted in several outlets, including MarketWatch, Vice and Univision. He is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a BA in journalism.
You can check out his thoughts on the markets (and more) at @KyleWoodley.
-
Is a Phased Retirement Right for You?
Want to keep working, just not as hard? A phased retirement may just be the answer.
By Kimberly Lankford Published
-
Four Tips to Make Your Sales Presentation a Winner
Being prepared and not being boring can go a long way toward persuading a potential customer to buy into what you’re offering.
By H. Dennis Beaver, Esq. Published
-
Stock Market Today: Markets Rebound Ahead of Big Week for Earnings
Equities rallied on easing geopolitical tensions, upcoming quarterly results.
By Dan Burrows Published
-
Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Spirals as Netflix Nosedives
A big earnings boom for credit card giant American Express helped the Dow notch another win.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq Extend Losing Streaks
The two indexes have closed lower for five straight sessions.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow Slips After Travelers' Earnings Miss
The property and casualty insurer posted a bottom-line miss as catastrophe losses spiked.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Stabilize After Powell's Rate-Cut Warning
The main indexes temporarily tumbled after Fed Chair Powell said interest rates could stay higher for longer.
By Karee Venema Published
-
What Does Tesla Stock's Latest Slide Mean for Investors?
Tesla stock is down more than 35% in 2024 and the company just announced layoffs. Here's what you need to know.
By Joey Solitro Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Reverse Lower as Treasury Yields Spike
A good-news-is-bad-news retail sales report lowered rate-cut expectations and caused government bond yields to surge.
By Karee Venema Last updated
-
Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Leads as Magnificent 7 Stocks Rise
Strength in several mega-cap tech and communication services stocks kept the main indexes higher Thursday.
By Karee Venema Published