On Wednesday afternoon, Nvidia (NVDA) reported a blowout quarter in the most anticipated event of the week. Revenue of $26 billion and guidance of $28 billion for next quarter were about as much as bulls could hope for. The stock surged above $1,000 in the after hours – as did the index futures.
But – in a surprising turn of events – NVDA was just about the only stock up on the day as the S&P opened at a new all time high but sold off nearly 70 points from the open to the close. The S&P Equal Weight ETF (RSP) was -1.40% on the day. In other words, the median stock in the index was down 1.40%. Half did better than that; half did worse. I’d really like to know how many S&P stocks were up on the day because I can’t find many.
For the NYSE and NASDAQ as a whole, 1,379 stocks advanced compared to 5,718 decliners. In other words, more than 4 stocks declined for every 1 that advanced. Clearly this is not what the crowd expected last night or this morning before the open. The S&P closed at 5,268 – just 18 points above the breakout level to new all time highs made last Wednesday. Should that level fail to hold it would be considered a “failed breakout” in classical technical analysis.
After the close, $70 billion enterprise cloud software maker Workday (WDAY) marginally lowered full year revenue guidance and the stock is currently -11% in the after hours.
Certainly things feel quite a bit more precarious than they did at the start of the day. Let’s see what Friday brings….