Stocks struggled to get off the ground Tuesday as volume thinned out ahead of the holiday. As a reminder, the stock and bond markets will close early tomorrow and remain closed Thursday for the Fourth of July.
Despite today's slow start, the main indexes finished in positive territory thanks to Fed Chair Powell's dovish comments and a continued rally in mega-cap stocks.
Just after Powell took the stage at a central bank forum in Sintra, Portugal, data released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed job openings rose slightly to 8.1 million in May from 7.9 million in April, topping economists' expectations. However, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) also showed April's figure was revised lower by 140,000.
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.
The data underscores a resilient but slightly cooling labor market, which Powell said is "kind of what we were hoping to see, and what we have been seeing." He also highlighted the disinflation trend seen in recent economic reports, saying "quite a bit of progress" has been made in bringing the rate of price growth down.
However, the head of the central bank reiterated the familiar talking point that the Fed needs to see more data to make sure inflation is "moving sustainably toward 2%" before it can begin cutting interest rates.
Powell also said he would not give a specific date for when the central bank will start lowering rates. According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, futures traders are pricing in a 63% chance the first quarter-point cut will come in September.
Tesla soars after Q2 deliveries data
Tesla (TSLA) stock rallied 10.2% – making it the best S&P 500 stock of the day – after the electric vehicle maker said it delivered a more-than-anticipated 443,956 vehicles in Q2. Today's upside is more of the same for the red-hot Magnificent 7 stock, which is up 60% since late April.
More recently, TSLA encountered "a wave of positive momentum following its annual meeting in mid-June, at which shareholders re-approved Musk's 2018 compensation plan," says CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson (Buy). "At the meeting, we think Musk successfully shifted investor focus to long-term opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, energy storage, and other business lines, diverting attention away from near-term challenges."
Nelson says the next big event for the EV maker will be its upcoming Robotaxi Day on August 8, and "is likely to be much more important than either today's report or its July 23 earnings release, in our view."
CrowdStrike has run too far, too fast, says analyst
On the negative side of the ledger was CrowdStrike (CRWD), which fell 1.8% after Piper Sandler analyst Rob Owens downgraded it to Neutral from Overweight (the equivalents of Hold and Buy, respectively).
The downgrade is a "valuation call," Owens says following a roughly 50% year-to-date gain for the cybersecurity stock. Additionally, CrowdStrike's impressive growth off the price charts suggests that "meaningful upside will likely become more difficult as the law of large numbers should begin to weigh on overall growth rates for the security leader."
As for the main indexes, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8% to 18,028, the S&P 500 added 0.6% to 5,509, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% to 39,331.
Related content
- 30 Early Walmart Deals Ahead of the Big Sales Event
- How to Find the Best Industrial Stocks
- When Is Amazon Prime Day?
-
Stock Market Today: Have We Seen the Bottom for Stocks?Solid first-quarter earnings suggest fundamentals remain solid, and recent price action is encouraging too.
-
Is the GOP Secretly Planning to Raise Taxes on the Rich?Tax Reform As high-stakes tax reform talks resume on Capitol Hill, questions are swirling about what Republicans and President Trump will do.
-
Stock Market Today: Have We Seen the Bottom for Stocks?
Solid first-quarter earnings suggest fundamentals remain solid, and recent price action is encouraging too.
-
Social Security Is Taxable, But There Are WorkaroundsIf you're strategic about your retirement account withdrawals, you can potentially minimize the taxes you'll pay on your Social Security benefits.
-
Serious Medical Diagnosis? Four Financial Steps to TakeA serious medical diagnosis calls for updates of your financial, health care and estate plans as well as open conversations with those who'll fulfill your wishes.
-
What Wall Street's CEOs Are Saying About Trump's TariffsWe're in the thick of earnings season and corporate America has plenty to say about the Trump administration's trade policy.
-
To Stay on Track for Retirement, Consider Doing ThisWriting down your retirement and income plan in an investment policy statement can help you resist letting a bear market upend your retirement.
-
How to Make Changing Interest Rates Work for Your RetirementHigher (or lower) rates can be painful in some ways and helpful in others. The key is being prepared to take advantage of the situation.
-
When to Sell Your StockKnowing when to sell a stock is a major decision investors must make. While there's no one correct answer, we look at some best practices here.
-
Within Five Years of Retirement? Five Things to Do NowIf you're retiring in the next five years, your to-do list should contain some financial planning and, according to current retirees, a few life goals, too.
