The markets staged a slim, shaky rebound on a Wednesday that was light on data, with the gravitational pull of U.S. Treasuries' rate revival in plain sight.
A day after the 10-year Treasury yield reached 1.567%, putting a scare into the major indexes, it retreated to roughly 1.5% early on in the session ... but clawed its way back to 1.54% by the afternoon.
What did that do to equities?
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.
It put a lid on technology stocks (-0.1%), which finished with the day's second-worst sector performance. Instead, investors were interested in defense. Utility stocks (+1.5%), consumer staples (+0.9%) and healthcare (+0.8%) led the markets higher, with notable gains coming from the likes of Eli Lilly (LLY, +4.0%), Sempra Energy (SRE, +3.1%) and ConAgra (CAG, +3.0%).
Even so, the major indices coughed up much of the day's progress during the session's final hour. The result was small gains for the Dow (+0.3% to 34,390) and S&P 500 (+0.2% to 4,359), while the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished with a 0.2% loss to 14,512.
Other news in the stock market today:
- The small-cap Russell 2000 also slid into the red shortly before the close, giving up 0.2% to 2,225.
- Dollar Tree (DLTR) surged 16.5% today after the discount retailer said it will begin offering products priced up to $5 in its Dollar Tree Plus stores and will test the $1+ price points in select legacy stores. DLTR also announced that its board of directors has authorized a $1.05 billion-boost to its share repurchase program, bringing the aggregate amount to $2.5 billion. Already in fiscal 2021, the company has repurchased $950 million of its shares, according to Michael Witynski, president and CEO of Dollar Tree.
- Eyewear startup Warby Parker (WRBY) made a splash in its market debut. WRBY went public via a direct listing, an alternative to traditional initial public offerings (IPOs). WRBY stock opened at $54.05 per share, more than 35% above its $40 reference point. Shares gained a little more ground from there, finishing the day up 36.2% to $54.49. There's still a host of companies set to go public over the next several months. Here's a running list of the most anticipated IPOs for the rest of 2021.
- U.S. crude oil futures slipped 0.6% to finish at $74.83 per share.
- Gold futures shed 0.8% to settle at $1,722.90 an ounce.
- The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) pulled back 2.3% to 22.71.
- Bitcoin prices slid 1.0% to $41.178.28. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day.)
Can AI Really Pick Stocks?
We frequently keep tabs on the so-called smart money.
While even the most revered investors can get it wrong from time to time (just ask Warren Buffett about his 1993 purchase of Dexter Shoe), hedge funds, billionaires and institutional investors have access to invaluable insights and research that makes their high-conviction moves worth monitoring. That's why we provide the occasional look into billionaire buys, hedge-fund favorites and, of course, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway portfolio.
But from time to time, it also pays to see what the robots have to say.
Financial advice firm Danelfin (formerly Danel Capital) has developed an analytics platform that analyzes fundamental, technical and sentiment data for hundreds of U.S. stocks to determine which have the best setup for market outperformance over the next 90 days.
We've recently caught up with Danelfin, whose system continues to beat the market in 2021, and reviewed its 10 top stocks to watch at the moment. Check them out!
-
AI Stocks Lead Nasdaq's 398-Point Nosedive: Stock Market TodayThe major stock market indexes do not yet reflect the bullish tendencies of sector rotation and broadening participation.
-
Top Tech Gifts to Grab at Walmart Before ChristmasBig savings on Apple, Bose, HP, Vizio and more while there's still time to shop.
-
AI Appliances Aren’t Exciting Buyers…YetThe Kiplinger Letter Artificial intelligence is being embedded into all sorts of appliances. Now sellers need to get customers to care about AI-powered laundry.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into Coca-Cola Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayEven with its reliable dividend growth and generous stock buybacks, Coca-Cola has underperformed the broad market in the long term.
-
If You Put $1,000 into Qualcomm Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You Would Have TodayQualcomm stock has been a big disappointment for truly long-term investors.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into Home Depot Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayHome Depot stock has been a buy-and-hold banger for truly long-term investors.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into Bank of America Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayBank of America stock has been a massive buy-and-hold bust.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into Oracle Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayORCL Oracle stock has been an outstanding buy-and-hold bet for decades.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into Sherwin-Williams Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodaySherwin-Williams stock has clobbered the broader market by a wide margin for a long time.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into UnitedHealth Group Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayUNH stock was a massive market beater for ages — until it wasn't.
-
Nasdaq Ends the Week at a New High: Stock Market TodayThe S&P 500 came within a hair of a new high, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average still has yet to hit a fresh peak in 2025.
