Dow Jones futures fell sharply on Wednesday ahead of the much-anticipated Fed minutes of the central bank’s latest policy meeting, while US retail sales were weaker than expected. Bed Bath & More (BBBY) rose again Wednesday morning.
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BBBY stock was set to continue its streak of scorching gains on Wednesday amid renewed interest in meme stocks as stocks skyrocketed as much as 45% in premarket trading before cutting gains. Bed Bath & Beyond, a struggling retailer with big losses, is up 355% from a July 27 low of 4.54 to Tuesday’s close.
The top earnings movers on Wednesday include: Analog Devices (ADI), lowe’s (LOW), Target (TGT) and TJX (TJX). Meanwhile, Dow Jones Shares Cisco Systems (CSCO) will report after the close.
Shares of Analog Devices fell about 1%. Lowe’s share gained nearly 1%. Target shares fell nearly 3%, while TJX shares fell 1.5%.
Electric driving leader Tesla (TSLA) fell 1% Wednesday morning. Elsewhere, Dow Jones Tech Leaders Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) both retreated ahead of today’s stock market opening.
In the current healthy stock market environment, Dow Jones shares Coca Cola (KO) and Merck (MRK) — as well as Albemarle (ALB), Costco (COST), Monolithic Energy Systems (MPWR) and Ollie’s bargain outlet (OLLI) — are among the top stocks to buy and watch.
Albemarle and Costco were featured in the Stocks near a buy zone column this week. Costco shares were added to IBD Leaderboard and SwingTrader in the wake of Tuesday’s breakout move.
Dow Jones Today: Treasury Yields, Oil Prices
At the start of Wednesday, Dow Jones futures lost 0.7% against fair value, setting the pace to hit a five-day win streak. S&P 500 futures fell 0.9%. And Nasdaq 100 futures traded more than 1% lower in morning trading.
Remember that overnight action in Dow Jones futures and elsewhere does not necessarily lead to actual trading in the next regular trading session.
Of the exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) fell 1%, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) lost 0.9% in early trading.
The yield on 10-year government bonds touched to 2.88% on Wednesday, after closing at 2.79% on Tuesday. 10-year government bond yields are recovering after hitting their lowest levels since early April in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, US oil prices fell slowly and threatened to extend a four-session losing streak, pushing futures down more than 8%. West Texas Intermediate futures traded just above $86 a barrel, their lowest level since January.
US Retail Sales Miss, Fed Minutes
US retail sales came in at 8:30 a.m. ET. July sales were flat from the previous month, excluding Econoday’s estimates calling for a 0.1% increase. Excluding cars, retail sales rose 0.4% in July. Excluding cars and petrol, sales increased by 0.7%.
The Federal Reserve will publish the minutes of its last meeting at 2 p.m. ET. The minutes are expected to provide clues to Federal Open Market Committee members’ thoughts on potential rate hikes at the upcoming September meeting.
At the most recent Fed meeting, the central bank passed a 75 basis point rate hike for its second consecutive meeting, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated a third such hike in September “might be appropriate.”
stock market rally
On Tuesday, the Nasdaq composite fell 1.1% over the course of the day, but narrowed its loss to 0.2% at the closing bell. The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, while the Dow Jones index gained 0.7%.
Tuesday’s column The Big Picture noted: “Another resilient performance was good news for the bulls, but the stock market is starting to look overbought by at least one indicator. Nasdaq is overbought. The index fell sharply for three consecutive sessions from June 9-13. For the month, the Nasdaq fell 9.7%.”
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Dow Jones Earnings: Cisco Systems
Network giant Cisco Systems will report its second quarter results after the closing Wednesday. The Dow Jones stock is expected to earn 82 cents a share on revenue of $12.7 billion.
Cisco shares ended about 27% of their 52-week high on Tuesday.
Five Dow Jones Stocks To Watch Now
Dow Jones Stocks to Watch: Coca-Cola, Merck
Dow Jones soft drink giant Coca-Cola is building a flat base with a buy point of 67.30. A handle input at 65.14 is also in play. The stock is bouncing off its 50-day line and trying to outperform entries during Tuesday’s 0.8% gain. The stock traded lower on Wednesday.
Merck is also building a flat base, a pattern showing a buy point of 95.82. According to the IBD MarketSmith chart analysis, stocks are trying to stay above their 50-day line. Merck shares fell 0.5% on Wednesday.
MRK stocks show a solid 94 out of a perfect 99 IBD Composite Rating, according to the IBD Stock Checkup. Investors can use the IBD Composite Rating to easily measure the quality of a stock’s fundamental and technical statistics.
4 top growth stocks to buy and watch over timerent Stock Market Rally
Top Stocks to Watch: Albemarle, Costco, Monolithic, Ollie’s
Lithium producer Albemarle remains in buying range after Friday’s breakout past a large handle cup with a buy point of 273.78. The 5% buy zone goes up to 287.47. Earlier last week, stocks topped a smaller handle cup with a buy point of 250.25. Shares fell 1.15% on Tuesday, breaking a four-day winning streak. The stock lost about 2% on Wednesday morning. Lithium giant Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM) will report after the close.
IBD Leaderboard stock Costco breaks past a handle cup with a 552.81 buy point. The stock rose 1.3% on Tuesday, closing just above its last entry. The stock lost 0.6 percent on Wednesday.
Recent IBD Stock Of The Day Monolithic Power Systems added a handle to a cup base last week, moving the appropriate buy point from 580.10 to 541.49. Meanwhile, the stock remains above an entry of 514.80. The stock fell 3.6% on Wednesday.
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is recovering from its 10-week line — a critical support level — and placing its largest discount store in a new buying zone. Shares also cut a handle after a large cup base, bringing the latest buy point to 72.37. The current price action is about 9% away from those entries. Shares were unchanged on Wednesday morning.
Join IBD experts as they analyze leading stocks in the current stock market rally on IBD Live
Tesla stock
Tesla shares lost 0.9% Tuesday, ending a two-day win streak. Shares of the EV giant fell 1% on Wednesday morning.
This week, shares closed at their highest level since May 4. The stocks are once again trying to decisively clear the resistance around their 200-day line, which is an important level to watch. The stock is about 25% lower than its 52-week high. The 3-for-1 stock split will take place on August 24.
Dow Jones Leaders: Apple, Microsoft
Of the Dow Jones stock, Apple shares were up 0.1% Tuesday as the stock continues to build the right side of a cup base with a buy point of 179.71. Another interpretation could be a large double bottom dating back to January. Anyway, the point of sale is identical. Keep an eye out for a possible handle to mold and offer a lower input.
Bullish, the stock’s relative strength is already at new highs, indicating a major outperformance of the stock market. Shares fell 0.2% on Wednesday morning despite a few price target increases.
Microsoft fell 0.3% on Tuesday, finishing just behind the long-term 200-day line, which is an important resistance area to watch. The stock fell 0.8% on Wednesday.
Follow Scott Lehtonen on Twitter at @IBD_SLehtonen for more information on growth stocks and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
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