Stock Market today: Dow clinches record high again as big tech kicks off earnings

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Investing.com — The Dow closed at second-straight record high Tuesday, as quarterly earnings from big tech and digested economic data showing ongoing labor market strength just as the Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day meeting.

By 14:49 ET (19:49 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 133 points, or 0.4%, the S&P 500 was 0.1% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.8%.

Labor market continues to show strength as Fed meeting starts

The The U.S. Labor Department’s latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, a measure of labor demand, showed job openings in December climbed to 9.03 million, above economists estimates of for 8.75M.

The ongoing signs of labor market strength arrived on the heels of data showing consumer confidence jumped to a 2-year high.

The duo of reports, signalling economic strength, pushed 2-year Treasury yields higher, as investors bet that the data will likely encourage the Fed to maintain its higher for longer rate regime as the central bank kicked off its two-day meeting.

While the Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged, “commentary accompanying the rate decision is likely to underscore the need for ongoing patience with a balanced assessment of risk,” Stifel said in anote.

Microsoft, Alphabet kick off big tech earnings

Tech giants Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) kick off the earnings season for big tech, with better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

The trio’s earnings come just ahead of earnings from Amazon, Apple and Meta due later this week.

Collectively, the market capitalization of Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Meta (NASDAQ:META) accounted for the bulk of S&P 500’s 24% gain in 2023.

In other tech news, Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) rose more than 3% after the dataceter hardware maker reported second-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates amid a boost from artificial intelligence-led demand.

General Motors in rally mode on upbeat outlook, UPS slumps on guidance, Pfizer slips despite surprise profit

General Motors (NYSE:GM) stock rose nearly 7% after the auto giant provided investors with an upbeat outlook for 2024 and signaled more capital could be returned to shareholders.

“[I]t appears the profit margins and growth targets are still very much on track despite this murky backdrop,” Wedbush said in a note, following a few quarter in which the automaker’s “EV vision [was] in flux“

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) stock fell 8% after the world’s biggest package delivery firm forecast annual revenue below expectations, facing sluggish domestic and international e-commerce demand. The company also detailed plans to cut 12,000 jobs to rein in costs.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) closed more than 1% lower after the drugmaker reported a surprise quarterly profit, though weaker-than-expected sales of key products including cancer drug Ibrance weighed on sentiment.

(Peter Nurse, Oliver Gray contributed to this article.)

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