Investing

Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 Fall While Applovin (APP) Plummets

Eric Bleeker

Published: December 9, 2024 10:43 am

Last Updated: December 9, 2024 3:27 pm

Live Updates

Google Unveils Breakthrough Quantum Computer

3:17 pm

Google unveiled a new quantum chip named Willow today. Here are the two main achievement from Willow that Google lists in its press release:

• The first is that Willow can reduce errors exponentially as we scale up using more qubits. This cracks a key challenge in quantum error correction that the field has pursued for almost 30 years.
• Second, Willow performed a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take one of today’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion (that is, 10²⁵) years — a number that vastly exceeds the age of the Universe.

Quantum computing stocks have been soaring recently. For example, Quantum Computing Inc (Nasdaq: QUBT) is up 735% year-to-date.

Google’s chip could be a breakthrough that creates a pathway for quantum computing to be relevant to real-world applications. However, it is worth noting that even with this breakthrough, the timeline for quantum computing remains very long with many more breakthroughs needed before quantum computing is applied at scale.

The share price of Google parent company Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOGL) is largely flat today, up .32% in late trading.

Losses Accelerating

11:13 am

In the past hour, losses across markets have accelerated.

The Nasdaq is now down .71% while the S&P 500 has fallen .51%.

Here are a few notable stocks:

• Palantir: Now down 5% after starting the day up 5%
• NVIDIA: Has seen its losses reach 3.3%
• Axon: Down 7.5% after seeing 152% gains year-to-date

In our initial market update (below), we said to watch stocks that have risen significantly this year to see if today was a day momentum stocks could struggle. It appears investors are now ‘taking profits’ from many of the market’s most popular stocks.

Sectors Outperforming Today

10:31 am

The S&P 500 remains slightly red on the day, but some sectors are seeing better performance. Here’s where you can find today’s biggest gainers:

• Materials: Up 1.09%
• Energy: Up .82%
• Consumer Discretionary: Up .39%

On the other side of the ledger, utilities, financials, and information technology stocks are all in the red today.

As of 10:10 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq Composite is close to flat. Most major indexes aren’t seeing large movements with the exception of the Russell 2000, which is up .72% on the day. Let’s take a peak at today’s performance:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: Up 25.42 points (+.03%)
• S&P 500: Down 9.62 (-.16%)
• Nasdaq-100: Down 4.36 (-.02%)
• Russell 2000: Up 17.54 (+.73%)

While markets are flat, that doesn’t mean many of the market’s most popular stocks are having a sleepy day. Major news surrounding NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) headlines today’s market while momentum stocks like Applovin (Nasdaq: APP) and Palantir (Nasdaq: PLTR) are seeing significant moves.

China the Latest State to Investigate NVIDIA

Becoming the largest company in the world is going to lead to no shortage of scrutiny, and NVIDIA finds itself in the crosshairs of another state investigation today. After reports the US DOJ was investigating NVIDIA, today Chinese regulators said they’re investigating the company over possible violations of monopoly law.

The Chinese investigation relates to NVIDIA’s acquisition of Mellanox. NVIDIA acquired the company in 2019 and Mellanox now forms the foundation of NVIDIA’s networking products. Many have pointed to NVIDIA’s purchase of Mellanox as one of the savviest buys by a technology company this century. However, regulators haven’t liked how NVIDIA uses Mellanox networking technology to build integrated systems which make it harder to compete with the company.

NVIDIA has seen sales in China fall as export restrictions have forced the company to design export-compliant GPUs into China that aren’t as powerful. China may also be trying to protect its domestic companies like Huawei, who are trying to compete with NVIDIA while not having access to cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

Applovin Falls While Palantir Rises at the Open

Applovin is one of the top-performing stocks in the world this year, up 791%. A key reason for Applovin’s returns is that profits have soared. Last quarter diluted EPS was up 317% from the prior year.

However, Applovin recently hit a market capitalization of over $130 billion which is extremely rich considering its trailing sales come in at just $4.3 billion.

Today the company is falling after its shares weren’t included in the S&P 500.

Another stock that’s been rising at a stratospheric rate is Palantir. The company was up more than 5% at the open after hosting a major defense panel this weekend, but shares have now fallen into the red today. Palantir is worth $175 billion today on trailing sales of just $2.6 billion.

The prospects for both companies are incredible – but watch to see if their fall continues. Both stocks have become ‘poster children’ for the current market rally and their fall could be an indication that momentum stocks in general are due for a breather.