Dow Tops 53,000 as Chip Stocks Re-Take the Lead: Stock Market Today

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Refreshed optimism about the AI trade after a long holiday weekend and an intraday rally for a beleaguered American icon lifted all three main equity indexes into the green on Monday. Price action during another low-volume trading session reflected shorter-term catalysts and longer-term trends, as well as more evidence of a resilient U.S. economy.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX, +2.7%) bounced back from a two-day decline of nearly 10%, as investors, traders and speculators bought the dip on the stocks building the backbone for the artificial intelligence (AI) economy.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, +6.6%) was among the top-performing S&P 500 stocks after Goldman Sachs analysts reiterated their Buy rating and raised their 12-month target price for the chipmaker from $450 to $640.

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Broadcom (AVGO, +3.7%) was higher, too, on the extension of its agreement to supply Apple (AAPL, +1.3%) with custom chips through 2031.

Nike (NKE, -1.7%) was the worst-performing Dow Jones stock for much of Monday morning after Bank of America analyst Lorraine Hutchinson cut her 12-month target price for the iconic shoemaker from $55 to $47.

Nike bounced off its intraday low, though, and helped lift Papa Dow into the green by the closing bell.

"As always," Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates writes, "we are locked and loaded for another earnings announcement season." As Navellier observes, the second quarter was the best-performing quarter for both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 since 2020. "So expectations remain very high since economic growth is clearly accelerating."

At the closing bell, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 1.1% at 26,121, and the broad-based S&P 500 had added 0.7% to 7,537. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, rallied for a 0.3% gain to 53,055, crossing the 53,000 level for the first time and reaching another new all-time closing high.

Economic activity is still expanding

The Institute for Supply Management Services Purchasing Managers Index ticked down to 54.0 in June from 54.5 in May, but it remains well in expansion territory.

And, according to LPL Financial Chief Economist Jeffrey Roach, hiring for the World Cup in the U.S. likely contributed to the increase to the ISM Services Employment Index last month. Also, as the economist notes, input prices fell to their lowest since February, a sign that recent inflation pressures are unlikely to persist.

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"This morning’s ISM services Report on Business suggests the economic growth trajectory looks favorable," Roach explains. "As tariff and geopolitical stress abates, we should see further improvements with inflation dynamics, although not enough for the Fed to capitulate on its hawkishness."

The economist notes, too, that AI-related capex and consumer spending continue to support the broad economy.

SK Hynix gets a U.S. listing

Markets continue to digest the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in stock market history - indeed, SpaceX (SPCX, -1.0%) will join the Nasdaq 100 as of the opening bell on Tuesday.

Now, South Korea-based SK Hynix, will raise approximately $28 billion through an IPO of shares in the U.S.. With a market cap north of $1 trillion in U.S. dollar terms, SK Hynix is the second-biggest maker of memory semiconductors in the world.

SK Hynix told the SEC it will list 17.79 million common shares on the Nasdaq. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported that the semiconductor stock will begin trading on Friday under the symbol SKHY.

WING is a World Cup winner so far

Wingstop (WING, -4.2%) felt a lot of selling pressure on Monday, but the chicken wing flinger was up more than 15% from June 11, the day the tournament began, through July 2, validating its place among Wall Street's top World Cup stock picks.

At the same time, WING had generated year-to-date and trailing-12-month losses of more than 25% and 45%, respectively, making the recent move look like a short-term spike within a longer-term downtrend.

We'll see whether expansion of the customer base beyond sports fans extends past the tournament final on July 19. Wingstop management will report second-quarter results before the opening bell on Wednesday, July 29.

Of the 29 analysts covering the consumer discretionary stock who are tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 24 say it's a Buy or Strong Buy, while four have it at Hold and one says Strong Sell. This works out to a high-conviction consensus Buy recommendation.

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David Dittman is the former managing editor and chief investment strategist of Utility Forecaster, which was named one of "10 investment newsletters to read besides Buffett's" in 2015. A graduate of the University of California, San Diego, and the Villanova University School of Law, and a former stockbroker, David has been working in financial media for more than 20 years.