DAILY UPDATE: Stocks Slide

By Staff Reporters

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Stocks fell yesterday after this week’s inflation data made investors worried about high prices. Tech companies took a hosing, especially Adobe, which dropped after releasing a weak sales forecast.

Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500 index fell 33.39 points (0.7%) to 5,117.09, down 0.1% for the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 190.89 points (0.5%) to 38,714.77, down 0.02% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite fell 155.36 points (1.0%) to 15,973.17, down 0.7% for the week.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) rose about 1 basis point to 4.308%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) rose 0.01 to 14.41.

Tech weakness sent the NASDAQ-100® (NDX), which includes the NASDAQ’s biggest non-financial companies, down 1.2% to its lowest level in over three weeks. The small-cap-focused Russell 2000® Index (RUT) bounced Friday but still ended the week with a 2.1% loss, breaking a two-week winning streak. Energy companies extended a recent rally behind climbing crude oil prices, pushing the Philadelphia Oil Services Index (OSX) up almost 5% for the week to its highest level since early November. 

In other markets, the U.S. dollar strengthened behind expectations the Fed will keep interest rates high. The U.S. dollar index ($DXY) posted a gain of 0.7% for the week.

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DAILY UPDATE: Rare Disease Day Visibility, Rite Aid Down as Markets Rise Up

By Staff Reporters

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Welcome back to the Gregorian calendar. Along with being a leap day, yesterday was Rare Disease Day—bringing visibility to the 7,000 conditions that each affect fewer than 200,000 people in the US. Combined, around 10% of US residents have one, per the National Institute of Health.

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  • Rite Aid is planning to close 77 stores in 2024 as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
  • That makes 431 stores that the drugstore chain has decided to close since October.
  • Rite Aid has been shrinking its store count for years, losing ground to rivals Walgreens and CVS.

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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500 index added 40.81 points (0.8%) to 5,137.08, up 0.95% for the week and its seventh weekly gain in the past eight; the Dow Jones Industrial Average® (DJI) gained 90.99 points (0.2%) to 39,087.38, down 0.1% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite rose 183.02 points (1.1%) to 16,274.94, up 1.7% for the week.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield fell about 7 basis points to 4.182%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) dropped 0.29 to 13.11.

Chipmaker strength drove a 4.3% advance in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX), which ended at a record high. The NASDAQ-100®(NDX), which includes the NASDAQ’s largest non-financial companies, also ended at a record high. Small-cap shares finished the week strong. The Russell 2000® Index (RUT) rose 1.1% to settle at a 23-month high and notched a 3% gain for the week. 

Banks were among the weakest performers as concerns over regional lenders flared up, underscored by another nosedive in shares of troubled New York Community Bancorp (NYCB).

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DAILY UPDATE: Nvidia, and Pharmacy Cyber Security Attack as Stock Markets Roar Back!

By Staff Reporters

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Stock Market - Homecare24

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Big tech companies are continuing to pour cash into artificial intelligence at a breakneck pace. And based Bion the earnings update Wednesday from Nvidia, much of it is going to that chip maker. “This last year, we’ve seen generative AI really becoming a whole new application space, a whole new way of doing computing,” Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s co-founder and chief executive, said Wednesday. “A whole new industry is being formed, and that’s driving our growth.”

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Pharmacies across the country are reporting delays to prescription orders due to a cyberattack against one of the nation’s largest health-care technology companies. Change Healthcare, a company handling orders and patient payments throughout the U.S., first noticed the “cyber security issue” affecting its networks Wednesday morning on the East Coast. 

Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500 index rose 105.23 points (2.1%) to 5,087.03; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 456.87 points (1.2%) to 39,069.11; the NASDAQ Composite rallied 460.75 points (3%) to 16,041.62.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) was little changed at 4.323%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) fell 0.84 to 14.50.

Nvidia sparked a 5% rally in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) and a 3% gain in the NASDQ-100® (NDX), both of which ended at all-time highs. Consumer discretionary shares were also among the strongest sectors Thursday. The small-cap Russell 2000® Index (RUT) rose 1% and halted a three-day slide.

According to Joe Mazzola, director of trading and education at Schwab, Nvidia had a “profound effect” at both the sector and index level, partly reflecting its market value, which is nearing $2 trillion. Nvidia is now the third largest company behind Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL).

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