Live Markets: Steel Bump, MCD and Superbowl Stocks

Investing

Stock Market Today Generic (Positive or Negative)

Published: February 10, 2025 10:44 am

Last Updated: February 10, 2025 2:48 pm

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Magnificent 7 Movers

2:46 pm

In mid-afternoon trading, the markets are holding onto their gains. While the Magnificent 7 technology leaders were largely responsible for driving gains in the markets in 2024, there are flies in the ointment following the latest round of earnings reports.

With the exception of Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA), all of the Mag 7 stocks have reported earnings. While results have largely surpassed expectations, the stocks have failed to ignite the type of excitement that they have grown accustomed to creating.

Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Google parent Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOGL) have committed to massive AI capex spending. Alphabet CEO Pichai Sundararajan commented that the biggest risk is to miss out on the AI opportunity. However, with China’s DeepSeek influence rising, AI spending is more of a gamble than ever. Alphabet is trading fractionally higher while Amazon is tacking on a 1.6% gain on the day.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) are vulnerable to the latest whims of the tariff war, which is most recently targeting the steel and auto sectors. While Apple shares are up fractionally, Tesla stock is down 1% alongside auto sector peers Ford (NYSE:F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM).

Hedge fund manager David Tepper of Appaloosa Management has been making some trades, gaining more China exposure and lessening his U.S. Big Tech exposure, according to the firm’s Q4 regulatory disclosures. Tepper has been scooping up shares of China’s Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), which is rising 6.4% on the day, while reducing his position in Amazon and Meta (Nasdaq: META). With China and DeepSeek now in the AI narrative, BABA currently represents 15% of Tepper’s portfolio.

While it hasn’t earned a spot in the Mag 7, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) stock is up almost 4% on the day despite losing its AI chief Justin Hotard to Nokia, where he’ll take the helm. The stock appears to be benefiting from the release of Intel’s latest chipset.

Today the markets have gone on offense despite the renewed focus on tariffs, with all three of the broader stock market indices trading in the green. In addition to tariffs, the markets are also focused on this week’s docket of economic data, including a key inflation reading due out midweek. As of early morning trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq are advancing, led by the Nasdaq with a 1% gain.

President Trump unveiled a forthcoming plan to implement 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in a bid to strengthen U.S. production of these metals. In response, the VanEck Steel ETF (NYSEArca: SLX) is up 3%, driven by heavily weighted individual names like Rio Tinto Group (NYSE: RIO) and Nucor (NYSE: NUE), the latter of which is advancing 5%.

Nippon Steel and United States Steel (NYSE: X), the latter of which is tacking on 3% today, are in the midst of tie-up discussions that would bolster U.S. and Japanese partnerships, but it is far from a done deal amid regulatory headwinds.

Here’s a look at the performance as of morning trading:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: Up 160.61 (+0.36%)
Nasdaq Composite: Up 237.17 (+1.21%)
S&P 500: Up 42.10 (+0.69%)

McDonald’s Stock Defies Odds

McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) reported its Q4 results, posting a dramatic miss on both the top and bottom lines. McDonald’s hasn’t suffered a revenue shortfall of this nature since the pandemic crippled results, but its same-store sales, which reflects the performance of locations open for at least one year, surprisingly climbed higher. This coupled with an upbeat outlook for 2025 sent shares soaring nearly 5% as of mid-morning trading. However the overall results suggest that consumers are feeling the inflationary pinch and are holding onto their hard-earned cash amid rising meal prices.

Key Points

The markets are kicking off the week with gains, led by the Nasdaq.
Steel stocks are moving higher amid President Trump’s planned tariffs on imports, set to bolster domestic production.
The stocks of companies that ran Superbowl ads are moving higher on the day.
McDonald’s stock disappointing on the top and bottom lines but is gaining ground thanks to same-store sales.

Superbowl Stocks

Hims and Hers Health (NYSE: HIMS) is gaining 2.7% on the day on the heels of the company’s high-profile Superbowl ad. The telehealth company, which is behind alternative drugs for issues like obesity and hair loss, has now made its mainstream debut. However, the company is also facing backlash from lawmakers accusing the company of misleading the public. Him and Hers reports earnings on Feb. 24.

OpenAI paid a reported $14 million for its ChatGPT ad, in response to which OpenAI backer Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) stock is gaining 1%.

Nike (NYSE: NKE) also made an appearance during the big game featuring some high-profile female athletes, and shares of the athletic apparel company are up 2.8% in response. The company is looking to ride the wave of the higher attention on girl sports of late.

Duracell, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B), ran a Superbowl ad featuring Tom Brady but the stock is not moving much.

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