Stock Market Today: Stocks Close Fed Week on a Quiet Note

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Stocks were choppy Friday as market participants took a breather following Thursday's Fed-fueled rally. While buzz continued to swirl around the Federal Reserve's jumbo-sized rate cut from earlier this week, today's headlines centered mostly on single-stock news, including Nike's (NKE) big C-suite shake-up.

Indeed, Nike was the best Dow Jones stock today, jumping 6.9% after the athletic footwear and apparel retailer announced that Elliott Hill, a 32-year veteran of the company, will replace John Donahoe as CEO, effective October 14.

"We see this move as a positive step that could reinvigorate the brand and improve sentiment on the stock, as Mr. Hill is highly respected and has deep knowledge of the business from his 32-year tenure at Nike," says Truist Securities analyst Joseph Civello (Hold).

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Constellation Energy tops the S&P 500 on Microsoft partnership

Elsewhere, Constellation Energy (CEG) surged 22.3% – making it the best S&P 500 stock – after the clean-energy utility company inked a deal with Microsoft (MSFT, -0.8%). According to a regulatory filing, the two firms signed a 20-year agreement to reopen a unit of Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island that will power Microsoft's data centers. The power plant will be renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center.

"The new reactor is not expected to be fully online until 2028, meaning there is time for regulatory challenge, but we think the environment is supportive for CEG to successfully bolster what is already the nation's largest nuclear fleet," says CFRA Research analyst Daniel Rich (Buy).

Constellation happens to be one of the best stocks to buy for a Fed rate cut, while Microsoft is one of analysts' favorite blue chip stocks.

FedEx spirals after earnings

FedEx (FDX) plunged 15.2% after the logistics giant missed top- and bottom-line expectations for its fiscal first quarter and revised its full-year outlook.

The company now anticipates low single-digit revenue growth and earnings per share in the range of $20 to $21 vs previous estimates for low to mid-single-digit revenue growth and earnings of $20 to $22 per share.

The results were "negatively affected by a mix shift, which reduced demand for priority services, increased demand for deferred services, and constrained yield growth," the company said in the release. Higher operating expenses also created pressure.

Lennar drops on gross margin concerns

Lennar (LEN) was another post-earnings decliner, falling 5.2% even as the homebuilder reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for its fiscal third quarter. The weakness appears to be in reaction to the company's gross margin outlook for the fourth quarter, which came in below expectations.

Still, UBS Global Research analyst John Lovallo maintained a Buy rating on the consumer discretionary stock after earnings. "We believe the setup for LEN and the homebuilders remains decidedly favorable, particularly as interest rates trend lower," Lovallo says.

"Management characterized current home buying activity as strong, with the expectation for even greater and more broad-based strength as rates move lower, which is consistent with our view," he adds.

As for the main indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.09% to 42,063, a new record closing high. The S&P 500 gave back 0.2% to 5,702 and the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4% to 17,948.

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With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at a local investment research firm. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.

With contributions from