Investing

Nasdaq Composite Slides as Dow Faces 9-Day Losing Streak | QUBT Soars on NASA Contract

Eric Bleeker

Published: December 17, 2024 12:26 pm

Last Updated: December 17, 2024 2:14 pm

Live Updates

Bitcoin Reaches New Highs

2:11 pm

Bitcoin briefly topped $108,000 this morning before falling back. As of 2:10 p.m. ET, each Bitcoin trades for about $106,700.

In another piece of Bitcoin news, ETFs tracking the price of Bitcoin today passed assets under management totals for gold ETFs. Currently, there is about $128 billion in Bitcoin-related ETFs whereas there’s $125 billion in gold ETFs.

Gainers and Laggards Today

12:08 pm

Let’s look at some of the more notable stocks making moves today:

• Quantum Computing Inc (Nasdaq: QUBT): Up 33% today after it was awarded a contract from NASA. The company’s stock is now up 518% in the past month amidst enthusiasm in quantum computing.
• Pfizer (NYSE: PFE): The top-performing stock in the S&P 500 today. Pfizer is down 11% year-to-date and has seen its stock fall since the election, so expectations were low headed into earnings. Those low expectations helped set up an earnings beat, as Pfizer projected revenues in Fiscal 2025 that top out at $64 billion.

Markets started deep in the red today, but have been clawing back. Let’s check in on major indexes:

• Nasdaq: Down 28.81 (-.14%)
• S&P 500: Down 18.11 (-.30%)
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: Down 233.27 (-.53%)

The biggest news in the markets is that the majority of stocks continue declining even while indexes like the Nasdaq have seen overall gains. The Dow Jones Industrial is down again today and would face a 9-day losing streak (for the first time since the 1970s) if it closes down today.

Losses today are concentrated in energy, financials, and industrials. Energy stocks are down 1.39%, which is the worst among all sectors.

Let’s check in on some of the market’s biggest storylines today.

What Will the Federal Reserve Signal Tomorrow?

The Federal Reserve is meeting tomorrow and investors expect a rate cut. That would be the third consecutive rate cut, but all eyes may turn toward signals for how many cuts are coming in 2025.

One reason cuts may slow is that inflation is now standing at 2.7%, still above the Fed’s target of 2%. If Jerome Powell is more cautious in delivering comments at Wednesday’s news conference, expect more selling pressure on stocks. The federal funds rate currently stands at 4.6%.

Dow Jones Heads for 9-Day Losing Streak

While indexes like the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 sit near all-time highs, an interesting development is that a majority of stocks continue seeing losses even while indexes soar higher.

Why is this? Larger stocks – such as the Magnificent 7 – have been carrying indexes while smaller stocks have seen poorer returns. Just 31% of S&P 500 stocks have outperformed the index this year.

The Dow itself is likely to hit a 9-day losing streak today. Recent struggles in sectors like energy, healthcare, industrials, and financials have contributed to the Dow’s drop. Yet, it’s worth noting that the Dow’s drop during this period is 3.5%. There have been several times this year where the Dow dropped 3.5% or more during 9 trading sessions, it just happens to be that they’ve all been consecutive drops during the current sell-off.