Dow, S&P 500 jump while Nvidia, Alphabet tumble

Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler will step down on January 20, 2025, the SEC announced on Thursday.

Gensler, who began his tenure in April 2021, didn’t provide a specific reason in his statement for why he’s stepping down.

“The Securities and Exchange Commission is a remarkable agency,” Gensler said in a statement. “The staff and the Commission are deeply mission-driven, focused on protecting investors, facilitating capital formation, and ensuring that the markets work for investors and issuers alike. The staff comprises true public servants. It has been an honor of a lifetime to serve with them on behalf of everyday Americans and ensure that our capital markets remain the best in the world.”

Gensler’s departure day aligns with Inauguration Day, when President-elect Donald Trump is expected to be sworn in as the next president of the US. In July, Trump attended a bitcoin conference in Nashville to court voters. Trump’s promises to the industry include appointing a crypto Presidential Advisory Council, firing SEC Chair Gary Gensler, and creating a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile.”

Oil jumped more than 1% on Thursday as the Russia-Ukraine war escalated, outweighing an uptick in inventories.

West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) futures hovered just below $70 per barrel, while Brent (BZ=F), the international benchmark, traded just above $74 per barrel.

Crude moved higher after Kyiv said Moscow launched what appeared to be a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into Ukraine, in what would be the first use in war of a weapon primarily used for nuclear delivery. Western officials later told Reuters their initial analysis showed it was not an ICBM, but they left open the possibility their conclusion could change.

Read more here.

Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration for US attorney general.

“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General,” wrote Gaetz on X on Thursday.

Last week President-elect Donald Trump picked Gaetz to serve as attorney general. The pick was controversial since Gaetz was recently at the center of a House Ethics investigation. The report on that probe has not been released.

Yahoo Finance’s Claire Boston reports:

Mortgage rates ticked up last week, providing little relief to prospective homebuyers in a seasonally slower time for the housing market.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.84% in the week through Wednesday, according to Freddie Mac data, compared with 6.78% a week earlier. The average 15-year rate rose to 6.02%, from 5.99% a week earlier.

Rates have been marching back toward 7% as 10-year Treasury yields, which closely track mortgage rates, have remained around 4.4% in the weeks since the election.

Read more here.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was trading in green territory by 11:45 a.m. ET on Thursday as stocks pared losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.8% while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was down 0.5% as shares of Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) dragged on the tech-heavy index.

The tech giant sank more than 6% as as investors assessed the Department of Justice’s push for Google to sell its Chrome browser.

Meanwhile Nvidia (NVDA) shares also sagged more than 1% after gaining as much as 4% in early trading.

Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:

MicroStrategy (MSTR) stock was on another wild ride early Thursday, rising as much as 11% before forfeiting a chunk of those gains after short seller Citron Research said it had taken a new bet against the stock, which has gained over 600% this year.

MicroStrategy stock has soared more than 80% since crypto-friendly President-elect Donald Trump’s victory earlier in November. Bitcoin itself is up roughly 30% over the same period, hitting a fresh record of $98,000 early Thursday before paring gains after the market open.

In a post on X early Thursday, Citron Research said that while the firm remains bullish on bitcoin — and was bullish on MicroStrategy’s bitcoin play years ago — the move in MicroStrategy stock has “completely detached from BTC fundamentals.”

Read more here.

Losses on the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) accelerated to a session low on Thursday. The tech-heavy index dropped more than 1.2%, with Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) shares leading the declines.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) also fell 0.4%.

Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) shares tumbled more than 5% on Thursday morning as investors assessed the Department of Justice’s proposed Google changes which include the forced sale of Google’s Chrome browser.

Alphabet shares sank to a session low by 10:30 a.m. ET.

The rest of the “Magnificent Seven” stocks lagged too, with AI chip heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA) dropping more than 2%. Amazon (AMZN) and Meta (META) also sank.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares struggled for direction on Thursday morning, flipping between positive and negative territory. The stock pared gains after surging more than 4% in early trading.

By 10:10 a.m. ET, shares were trading down more than 1.5%. Nvidia beat on profit in its latest quarter but projected slowing revenue growth.

Wall Street analysts, however were bullish on the company’s next-generation chip, called Blackwell, with Wedbush’s Dan Ives stating the company’s results were “flawless.”

“We would characterize results as another earnings press release from Nvidia that should be framed and hung in the Louvre given these eye popping results and unprecedented growth from the Godfather of AI Jensen and Nvidia,” wrote Ives.

Existing home sales rose in October as house hunters returned to the market.

Sales of previously owned homes increased 2.9% from a year ago to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.96 million, marking the first annual gain since July 2021, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Sales climbed 3.4% from September.

Economists polled by Bloomberg expected existing home sales to reach a pace of 3.95 million in October.

“The worst of the downturn in home sales could be over, with increasing inventory leading to more transactions,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun wrote in a press statement.

Homes typically go under contract a month or two before the contract closes, which means the October data largely reflects decisions made in September and August.

Rates on the 30-year mortgages fell to around 6% in September. Cheaper borrowing costs typically spur more housing activity. But rates are now hovering around 6.7%, according to Freddie Mac.

“Additional job gains and continued economic growth appear assured, resulting in growing housing demand. However, for most first-time homebuyers, mortgage financing is critically important,” Yun said. “While mortgage rates remain elevated, they are expected to stabilize.”

The data also showed that the median home price rose 4% from last October to $407,200, marking the 16th consecutive month of annual price increases.

US stocks climbed on Thursday as investors digested Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings while bitcoin (BTC-USD) briefly hit yet another record high just north of $98,000.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.3%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) added 0.%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) put on 0.6%, coming off a muted day for the major gauges.

Nvidia beat on profit in the third quarter, but the chipmaker’s revenue growth forecast slowed. Shares of the AI chip heavyweight erased premarket losses to open 4% higher.

Meanwhile, bitcoin soared more than 5% earlier on Thursday, climbing closer to the $100,000 threshold amid optimism that the incoming Trump administration will implement crypto-friendly policies.

Weekly jobless claims rose less than expected last week in a sign of cooling in the labor market.

New data from the Department of Labor showed 213,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week ending Nov. 16, down from 219,000 the week prior and below the 220,000 economists had expected. The weekly claims for unemployment have been falling steadily throughout the past several weeks after hitting their highest level in more than a year in October.

Meanwhile, the number of continuing applications for unemployment benefits hit 1.9 million, up 36,000 from the week prior and the highest level since November 2021.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) jumped more than 5% to a record high Thursday morning, trading just north of $98,000 amid speculation of pro-crypto policies from an incoming Trump administration.

The token has soared roughly 40% since the presidential elections earlier this month, hitting multiple milestones as investors eye the target of $100,000.

Reports that President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has discussed the possibility of a first-ever crypto policy chief for the White House has helped lift the token in the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin has been a key component of the Trump trade, as the incoming president has promised to explore crypto-friendly initiatives, including the creation of a national bitcoin stockpile.

The Target (TGT) ticker page on Yahoo Finance is still seeing strong interest after the stock’s 21.9% post-earnings drubbing on Wednesday.

Shares are up slightly in the premarket.

From top to bottom, Target’s results flat-out stunk. The reality is the stock is likely to stay in the penalty box until Target can deliver at least two quarters of healthy earnings beats on the back of stronger sales.

I think Deutsche Bank analyst Krisztina Katai did a good job summarizing the issues:

“Results indicate a significant deterioration in market share, primarily to Walmart and Amazon. This, coupled with the necessary investments in infrastructure and supply chain modernization to remain competitive, suggests a longer time-line to recovery than initially projected. While we still believe Target’s long-term potential remains, regaining lost market share will likely require substantial price investments and stepped up promos, pressuring margins and profitability.”

I list several of the challenges Target is up against below:

Nvidia (NVDA) is under a little pressure in the premarket after earnings last night.

It makes sense, as CEO Jensen Huang didn’t blow everyone away with quarterly revenue guidance. But to be clear, the guidance was impressive — just not at the very high end of some very robust Street estimates.

An important point, however, is making the rounds this morning on Nvidia’s margins.

If the sell-off accelerates in the session, it could be a function of some near-term margin concerns as Nvidia ramps up production of its latest AI chip, Blackwell. Usually, during ramp periods, costs are elevated and profit margins are not at peak levels.

As Keybanc analyst John Vinh noted:

“Nvidia noted it’s supply constrained on Blackwell in the fiscal fourth quarter, and given the ramp of multiple platforms, expects gross margin to temporarily be in low 70s in fiscal first quarter 2026 before returning to mid-70s in the second half.”