The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed higher on Thursday led by chipmakers and technology stocks as investors put aside inflation fears. However, the Dow remained in the red weighed by Disney’s disappointing subscriber growth.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 158.71 points or 0.4%, to close at 35,921.23, weighed down by 7.1% loss in shares of The Walt Disney Company
DIS
. Disney carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The S&P 500 edged up 2.56 points, or 0.1%, to close at 4,649.27 on Thursday. Six of the 11 major sectors of the broader index closed in the green led by 0.9% gain in the materials. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 15,704.28, after adding 81.58 points, or 0.5%, yesterday, and JD.com, Inc.
JD
was the biggest gainer ending the session 8.3% higher.
On Thursday, the fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 5.7%, to close at 17.66. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.37-to-1 ratio. A total of 9.61 billion shares were traded yesterday, lower than the last 20-session average of 10.91 billion.
Market Recovers Wednesday’s Sell-Off, But Disney Disappoints
Investors bypassed hotter-than-expected inflation reports from the day before and picked up semiconductor and technology shares. On Wednesday, the government reported that annual inflation climbed 6.2%, hitting a nearly 31-year high. However, with the treasury market closed to observe the Veterans Day session, investors hauled in shares of Xilinx, Inc.
XLNX
, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
AMD
and NVIDIA Corporation
NVDA
helping shares climb 5.5%, 4.4% and 3.2%, respectively. In fact, the materials sector also outperformed on Thursday, the Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund hit a fresh intraday all-time high, with Freeport-McMoRan Inc.
FCX
closing 9% higher.
While both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq recover grounds on Thursday, the Dow was weighed down by steep decline in shares of Disney that reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 earnings after market close on Nov 10. The entertainment giant reported earnings of 37 cents per share, much lower than the consensus estimate of 51 cents. Though revenues ($18.53 billion) increased 26% from the prior-year quarter, boosted by strong performances by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, and Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, the top line lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $18.85 billion. Additionally, the average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for Disney+ was $4.12, down 9% year over year, and the streaming service added 2.1 million subscribers compared to 12 million in the last quarter. (
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