Dow Jones futures turned higher on Friday morning after the stock market sell-off as investors digested a stronger-than-expected jobs report from the Labor Department. SVB Finance (SIVB), the holding company of Silicon Valley Bank, plunged another 66% on Friday morning as fears of a bank run mounted.
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Bloomberg reported late Thursday that venture capital funds, including Peter Thiel’s Founder Fund, were advising their portfolio companies to withdraw their money from Silicon Valley Bank. Friday’s early plunge follows Thursday’s 60% plunge that sent stocks close to their lowest levels since September 2016.
A key jobs report from the Labor Department showed that the US economy added 311,000 jobs in February, more than expected, with an unemployment rate of 3.6%, higher than estimates. Econoday estimates projected 220,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in February with an unemployment rate of 3.4%.
On the earnings front DocuSign (DOCUMENTARY), gap (GEOGRAPHIC POSITIONING SYSTEM), oracle (ORCL) and Ultimate beauty (ULTA) were out on Friday morning.
DocuSign plummeted 14% after the company announced CFO Cynthia Gaylor was leaving the company. The e-signature provider reported better than expected Q4 results. Gap fell 7% after the company’s Q4 results.
Oracle was sold down 4.54% on mixed Q4 results. Finally, Ulta shares are down nearly 2% on Friday morning after reporting lower-than-expected comparable sales forecasts. The company beat earnings and revenue estimates for the fourth quarter.
stock market today
EV giant Tesla (TSLA) was up 1% on Friday morning. Dow Jones tech giants Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) were slightly lower pre-opening.
IBD Leaderboard Watch List Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and New relic (NEWR) – as well as Dow Jones stocks American Express (AXP) and Foreclosure (CRM) – are among the top stocks to watch amid a difficult stock market rally.
Palo Alto is an IBD Leaderboard watchlist. New Relic was an IBD Stock of the Day recently. And Salesforce was featured in this week’s “Stocks Near a Buy Zone” column.
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Dow Jones Today: Oil Prices, Treasury Yields
Ahead of Friday’s market open, Dow Jones futures were up 0.2% from fair value and S&P 500 futures were up 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.7% in morning action.
Among U.S. exchange-traded funds, Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) was up 0.7% and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was up 0.4% early Friday.
The 10-year US Treasury yield fell to 3.92% on Thursday. Then on Friday, the 10-year yield dipped to 3.77% after the job report.
Oil prices fell further Friday morning after three days of losses, with West Texas Intermediate futures down about 1%. WTI futures were trading just below $75 a barrel early Friday.
stock market rally
There was a sharp sell-off in the stock market on Thursday as the main stock index ended with big losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.7% and the S&P 500 fell 1.85%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 2.05%.
Thursday’s Big Picture column commented: “The stock market sold off sharply despite a surprise jump in weekly jobless claims as investors hunkered down ahead of Friday’s crucial jobs report. The S&P 500 broke below its 50-day support level.”
Now is an important time to read IBD’s The Big Picture column amidst the now struggling stock market rally.
Five Dow Jones stocks to buy and watch
Keep an Eye on Dow Jones Stocks: American Express, Salesforce
According to IBD MarketSmith chart analysis, American Express is moving further away from a buy point of 182.25 in a huge, handled cup amid a four-day losing streak. On an optimistic note, the stock’s relative strength line is holding near its highs, a particularly positive sign in a troubled market environment. AXP stock was down Friday morning.
JPM stocks show 92 out of 99 perfect IBD Composite Ratings, according to the IBD Stock Checkup. The Composite Rating is designed to help investors easily find top growth stocks.
Last week, Dow Jones leader Salesforce staged a bullish breakaway gap past a buy point of 178.94 on strong fourth quarter results. But the breakout gains have disappeared and stocks are back below their buy point. Still, the stock’s recent strength is reason to watch the software leader in the coming sessions. CRM stock lost 0.3% on Friday.
4 top growth stocks to buy and watch stock market rally
Top stocks to buy and watch: Palo Alto, New Relic
Stock on the IBD Leaderboard watchlist Palo Alto Networks remains quietly trading after the stock’s 12.5% gain on Feb. 22. Shares remain within striking distance of the buy point from a 193.01 basis. PANW shares traded 0.2% lower on Friday morning.
Backstory: On Feb. 21, the cybersecurity giant announced strong results for the quarter ended January, during which earnings hit $1.05 per share, up 81% year over year on a 26% jump in revenue to 1 $.7 billion.
The latest IBD stock of the day, New Relic, is operating on a flat basis with a buy point of 80.98 after Feb. 8’s profit-driven rally. NEWR stock fell 0.7% on Friday.
Backstory: New Relic provides a cloud-based suite of software products that enable organizations to collect, store and analyze massive amounts of data in real-time. Customers gain better insight into their enterprise software to make data-driven decisions.
Learn how to time the market with IBD’s ETF market strategy
Stocks to Watch During the Stock Market Rally
These are five top stocks to watch in today’s stock market, including two top Dow Jones stocks.
Company Name
symbol
Correct purchase point
Type of purchase point
New relic
(NEWS)
80.98
flat base
American Express
(AXP)
182.25
Cup with handle
Palo Alto Networks
(PANW)
193.01
consolidation
JP Morgan
(JPM)
138.76
flat base
Foreclosure
(CRM)
178.94
Cup with handle
Source: IBD data as of March 9, 2023
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Tesla stock
Tesla stock slipped another 5% on Thursday, falling for the fourth straight day. Shares are on course for a fall of over 12% this week, closing about 55% below their 52-week high on Thursday.
Tesla shares were up 1% Friday morning, looking to recover from Thursday’s losses.
Dow Jones Leaders: Apple, Microsoft
Among the Dow Jones stocks, Apple shares fell 1.5% on Thursday and will end the week at a slight loss. The stock fell 0.35% early Friday.
Microsoft shares extended their losing streak to three sessions, falling 0.5% on Thursday. The stock is still about 20% off its 52-week high after recent declines. MSFT shares fell 0.5% on Friday morning.
Follow Scott Lehtonen on Twitter at @IBD_SLehtonen for more on growth stocks and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
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