The stock market has had its best week of 2024 so far, but the Dow is still just below 40,000
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, in particular, was on track for its best week of the year. But it still hasn’t crossed the 40,000 mark it keeps flirting with. The Dow was down about 160 points, or 0.4%, shortly before midday, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq $NDAQ were largely flat.
It’s a bad day so far for Nike and Lululemon, which are facing difficulties in the athlete apparel section. In its latest earnings report, Lululemon’s annual revenue and profit fell short of expectations due to weak demand for its premium athleisure and accessories. Lululemon stock dropped sharply Friday morning, down 17%.
Nike is also struggling with sluggish revenue and doesn’t anticipate a near-term rebound. The company’s weak sales guidance for the remainder of fiscal year 2024 dampened investor sentiment. Nike stock dropped 7.7% Friday morning.
One of the top performers was FedEx $FDX stock, which soared more than 10% on Friday morning and was still up about 8% near midday. In its third-quarter earnings report, the parcel company announced plans to buy back $5 billion of its shares as cost-cutting measures increase profits.
Google $GOOGL parent Alphabet has been betting on AI for a long time. On Friday morning, both Alphabet Class A (GOOGL) and Class C (GOOG) stocks rose by 2% each on the Nasdaq and the S&P 500. The came after Wedbush analysts added Alphabet stock to their “Best Ideas List” and raised their price targets on the shares. They also said they expect Alphabet to benefit greatly from generative AI and that the threat of AI to Google’s search dominance “overrated.”
Among other top gainers was Best Buy $BBY stock, which recently announced that it would close between 10 and 15 stores by 2025. Best Buy stock was up about 2%.
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