The Buzz on Business for May 29th 2024

Maybe it’s just us, but divergences, of any kind, cause us to wonder. When two or more markets that typically move together, move in opposite directions, that raises questions, for us. Stocks up but volume down. That makes us nervous. Stocks up while decliners lead advancers, likewise. Stocks down, bonds up. Hmmm. Large caps diverge from small caps, well, that will get our attention.

We had one of those divergences yesterday and this one has us on a heightened alert.

Stock Market Report

The major indexes closed mixed but, in reality, stocks were off sharply. Declining stocks outpaced advancers by almost two-to-one and on strong volume. To the extent that stocks were mixed, most were down, NVIDIA and the chip stocks were up.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 217 points, that’s six-tenths of one percent and it closed at 38,853.
• The S&P 500 was up a minuscule one point, basically flat and it closed at 5,306.
• Buoyed by the semiconductors, the tech heavy NASDAQ Composite saw a six-tenths of one percent gain. That’s ninety-nine points and it closed back above 17,000 at 17, 020.
• And the small caps were down. The Russell 2000 was off a bit more than one-tenth, that’s three points and it starts the day today at 2,067.

Bond Market Report

Rates were up on Tuesday.

• The yield on the 2-year treasury was up three basis points and closed within striking distance of five percent at 4.979%.
• The 20-year was up nine ticks and closed at 4.758%.

Oil, Gold, and Bitcoin

• Oil was up $1.70 and closed back above $80.00 at $80.22.
• Gold was up $23.90, and a troy ounce now changes hands at $2,358.90
• And Bitcoin was off on Tuesday. It closed at $68,388.69, off $777.01

NVIDIA Soars on New from Elon Musk

The big news of the day was the announcement from Elon Musk and his Artificial Intelligence startup was building a supercomputer exclusively with billions upon billions of dollars in NVIDIA chips.

Other than that, there was no news to speak of from neither the economic nor earnings calendars.

Today, the Fed’s Beige Book, which is a data driven analysis of the US economy. It may make some news this time.

Tomorrow, the plot twists and a raft of economic data is due out including the Personal Consumption Expenditures Index complex which begins two-days of releases.

Expectations are that the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation increased by 0.20%. If the PCE hits its mark, we expect a big yawn from the Street. But, one tick above or below 0.20%, we would not be surprised to see markets move dramatically. We shall see and we will report all of it to you, as it happens, here on the Buzz!