Equity Indexes Wrap: AI Plays fromꦬ AMD, Google Lift the S&P 500 and Nasdaq; Car Retailers, Drugm🤪akers Falter

The Dow

Walgreens (WBA) led the Dow higher, rising 7.2%.

Intel (INTC) rose 2.1%, following most chip stocks higher. Apple (AAPL) shares climbed 1% alongside other big tech names like Microsoft (MSFT), up 0.6%.

Merck & Co. (MRK) shares fell 1.7% after the Biden administration outlined circumstances under which the federal government can seize patents on drugs developed with public grants. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) fell 0.8%. 

Nike (NKE) shares fell 1.1% amid speculation the brand was ending its decades-long partnership with golf legend Tiger Woods.

The S&P 500

Some of the market’s least loved stocks this year were among its biggest winners Thursday as investors piled into beaten-down value plays and growth names alike. Kenvue (KVUE), the Johnson & Johnson spin-off that had lost more than 20% of its value this year before today, jumped 7.3%. Lithium miner Albemarle (ALB), down more than 40% year-to-date, gained 6%. Sealed Air Corp. (SEE), which is bein♔g booted from the index later this month, rose 4.5%. 

Travel stocks outperformed after JetBlue (JBLU) raised its fourth-quarter guidance, citing better-than-expected holiday and non-holiday bookings. Southwest Airlines (LUV) rose 4.2% while Expedia (EXPE) and Airbnb (ABNB) each rose 3.4%. 

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) rose 3.3%. It has been the S&P 500’s best-performing stock in the last week,𒀰 advanc꧒ing more than 14%.

Hess Corp. (HES) shares fell 3% as oil prices dipp🐎ed below $69 a barrel and natural gas fell to less than $2.50, a fresh 3-month low.  

Car parts retailers O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY) and AutoZone (AZO) fell 3.2% and 2.9%, respectively, amid cಌoncerns about a bumpy landing’s effect on the car market.

Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) lost 2% after BofA analysts downgraded the stock, warning of yet more delays in store for the video game maker’s long-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI.

The Nasdaq 100

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares surged 9.9% after it said several companies, including Microsoft and Meta Platforms (META), were using its new Instinct MI300 chips designed to compete with Nvidia’s (NVDA) offerings.

Semiconductor stocks surged amid the hype, with Marvell Technology (MRVL) gaining 3.5% while GlobalFoundries (GFS) and Onsemi (ON) both climbed 3.3%. 

Alphabet (GOOGL) jumped 5.3% a day after it launched Gemini, its new AI model that the company said outperforms Microsoft-backed rival 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:OpenAI’s GPT-4. 

PayPal (PYPL) shares fell 1.8% after Amazon said🐓 it would stop accepting Venmo, which PayPal owns,🍰 as a method of payment starting next month.

Gilead (GILD) fell 1.7% after the aforementioned Biden administration announcement 🅷about patent rights.

Electronic Arts () fell 1.2% after video꧅ game retailer GameStop reported lower-than-expect🎃ed revenue in the third quarter. 

Dollar Falls on Speculation o🤪f Bank of Japan P🌌olicy Shift

The U.S. Dollar Index—a measure of the do⛎llar’s value relative to a basket of currencies including the y𒊎en, pound, and euro—fell 0.6% Thursday, a big drop for an index that has moved about 0.3% on an average day this year.

The dollar lost ground against the pound and the euro, but the real mover Thursday was the yen, against which the U.S. dollar lost 2.5%. 

The yen’s rally came amid speculation the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Bank of Japan (BOJ) is close to raising interest rates for the first time since 2007. Japan is the last major economy in the world with 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:negative interest rates, bu🌺t traders are expecting that’ll change as soon as thiꩵs month.

Higher Japanese i𒁃nterest rates increase demand for the yen by increasing t💮he return debt holders earn on their bonds. 

GameStop Up After Q3 Results, New Inve🦹stment Policy

GameStop Corp. (GME) reported Wednesday that sales slumped in most of its global markets in the third quarter, but the video game retailer said it reduced its expenses and changed its investment policy. The stock was up nearly 5% in mid-afternoon trading Thursday.

GameStop said Wednesday that Q3 revenue fell 9.1% to $1.078 billion, short of the market consensus. It broke even in the period, while analysts had been looking f𒀰or a loss of 8 cents 🍒a share.

GameStop nജoted it cut selling, general, and admi൩nistrative expenses by 24% to $296.5 million.

The company also said that its board approved a new investment policy that allows GameStop to “invest in equity 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:securities, among other investments.” It gave Chair and CEO Ryan Cohen the power to manage the firm’s portf🔯olio.

Once a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:meme stock darling, shares of GameStop late last month fell to their lowest level since the meme stock craze of early 2021. Despite Thursday's gains, they remain down for the y♏ear. 

-Bill McColl

Midday Movers

Alphabet (GOOGL): Shares rose 6% after the tech giant launched its new AI model, Gemini. The rest of the FAAMG stocks—Meta (META), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Microsoft (MSFT)—also gained Thursday, helping to drive the Nasdaq and S&P 500 💦higher.

Southwest Airlines (LUV): Southwest rose 4%, alongside other U.S. airlines, after peer JetBlue (JBLU) raised its fourth-quarter and full-year guidance amid strong travel demand and lower fuel costs. JetBlue shares jumped more than 10%, while Delta Airlines (DAL) and travel booking company Expedia (EXPE) each gained more than 3%.

Merck & Co. (MRK): Shares of the pharmaceutical company fell after the Biden administration outlined measures for exercising “march-in rights,” a controversial policy that allows the U.S. government to take the patents of drugs developed with public funds. Peers Eli Lilly (LLY) and Gilead (GILD) also fell. 

Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO): Shares of the company behind G✨rand Theft Auto lost more tha💎n 2% after BofA analysts warned gamers and investors may be waiting longer than expected for the sixth installment in the GTA franchise, which the bank doesn’t see coming until Fall 2025. 

PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL): Shares fell about 2% after Amazon said it would stop accepting Venmo, which PayPal owns, as a payment method starting next month.&💜nbsp;

JetBlue Stock Soars on Boosted Q4 Guidance

Shares of JetBlue Airways (JBLU) 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:jumped more than 11% Thursday morning after the cꦫarrier raiseꦯd its fourth-quarter and full-year guidance, citing surprisingly robust demand. 

The company still expects revenue to drop in the ꦫfourth quarter from ♐the same period last year, but it now sees a decline of between 4% and 7%; it had previously forecasted a 6.5% to 10.5% decrease. 

“Demand for travel remains healthy. Since late October, close-in bookings have outperformed expectations for both holiday peak and non-holiday travel periods,” the company said in a regulatory filing. 

JetBlue also narrowed its forecast for average fuel prices, lowering the top of its estimated range from $3.20 a gallon to $3.15. Oil prices have fallen steadily since hitting a 1-year high in late September. Even massive production cuts from OPEC+ have failed to counter the effects of economic data pointing to a slowing global economy, and thus weaker oil demand.

Thursday's gains had JetBlue shares trading at $5.30, a 3-month high.

AMD𝄹 Stock Surges With Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI Set to Use Its Latest AI Chip

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:shares surged more than 6% Thursday morning after the chipmaker launched its latest 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:artificial intelligence (AI) chip, with Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), and OpenAI all set to use it.

AMD CEO Lisa Su called the chip maker's Instinct MI300 data center 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerators "the highest-performance accelerators in the world for generative AI," at Wednesday's launch event.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI plans to use MI300 in its programming system, Triton 3.0, while Meta will add the chip to its data centers, AMD said. Microsoft had also announced that it would use the new AMD chip in its cloud computing segment, Azure.

"AMD remains the clearest challenger to NVDA and is positioned to ramp meaningfully in 2024," Wedbush analysts said in a note Thursday following the chip's launch.

With Thursday's gains, shares of AMD have nearly doubled in value so far this year, while Nvidia (NVDA) shares have more than t💛ripled in the same period.

-Naomi Buchanan

Chewy Shares Tumble on Lowered🍸 Guidance Amid Economiꦏc Uncertainty

Shares of online pet products retailer Chewy (CHWY) fell 10% to about $17.40, just shy of an all-time low, on Thursday after reporting sales below Wall♛ Street estimates and cutting its full-year guidance. 

Chewy reported revenue of $2.74 billion in the third quarter, 8% above the same period last year but at the low end of its guidance and below analysts’ estimates. Though adjusted earnings꧙ of 15 cents a share topped Wall Street’s consensus of a 6 cent per share loss. 

Chewy’s soft revenue last quarter and “continued macro pressure observed industry wide,” led the company to lower its full-year sales guidance to a range of $11.08 billion to $11.1 billion, from previous estimates of net sales between $11.15 billion and $11.35 billion. 

Chewy is the latest addition to a long list of 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果🔴体彩网:retailers lowe🌌ring their expectations for the all-important holiday shopping season as consumers embrace thrift amid higher prices and an uncertain econom🅘ic outlook. 

Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Premarket

Gains:

• Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings (CERE): Shares jumped 12% to about $42 after AbbVie (ABBV) said it would acquire the neurosciences biotech for $8.7 billion, or $45 a share. AbbVie shares slipped 0.3%. 
• Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Shares of the tech giant gained more than 3% 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:after it unveiled Gemini, an artificial intelligence (AI) model that it claims outperforms Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI’s GPT-4. 
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD): Shares of the chipmaker rose more than 2% after it 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:rolled out a new grap🔜hics pr🌟ocessing unit designed to compete with Nvidia (NVDA) for artificial intelligence business. Tech giants Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft have both said they’ll try the chip as an alternative to Nvidia’s offerings. 
  

Losses:

• Chewy Inc. (CHWY): Shares of the online pet retailer fell 11% to near an all-time low after third-quarter sales fell short of expectations and the company’s fourth-quarter forecasts disappointed. 
• GameStop Corp. (GME): Shares of the video game retailer lost about 7% after it said sales in the third quarter fell 9% from the same period a year ago. 
• Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO): Shares of the video game maker fell more than 1% after Bank of America Securities downgraded the stock to neutral from buy and predicted the release of the sixth installment in its blockbuster Grand Theft Auto franchise will come later in 2025 than analysts are expecting. 

Dow Futures Lag Broader Market in P🃏remarket Trading

Futꦚures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.1% lower in premarket trading Thursday.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 contracts gained 0.4%.