Profit-taking Threatens to End Winning Streaks

Stocks Weak Across the Board

The major U.S. stock indexes are under pressure on Thursday, putting the current winning streaks in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 at risk.

At 15:34 GMT, the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average is trading 34004.50, down 107.77 or -0.32%. The benchmark S&P 500 Index is at 4372.43, down 10.35 or -0.24% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 index is trading 13624.94, down 25.48 or -0.19%.

At the start of the session, the S&P 500 was riding an eight day winning streak, it’s longest since November 2021. The Nasdaq’s streak was up to nine days.

Disney Bucks the Trend

Disney is bucking the trend with a 7% jump after reporting better-than-expected profit and expanding its cost-cutting plan, while Arm dipped 6% following its first quarterly report as a public company. MGM Resorts dipped.

Economic News – Initial Claims and Jobs

In other news, initial filings for jobless benefits released Thursday showed a decline of 3,000. Traders are looking ahead to remarks from a slate of Federal Reserve officials — including chair Jerome Powell — throughout the day.

Earnings After the Close

The culmination of third-quarter earnings season continues after the bell with reports from Wynn Resorts, Illumina and Unity Software.

Crypto Equities Rise with Bitcoin

Stocks that give investors exposure to the crypto market got a lift in premarket trading Thursday as the bitcoin price rose to a new high for 2023, CNBC reported.

Shares of the crypto services provider Coinbase rose 3.8%, while bitcoin proxy Microstrategy gained 4.3%. Block and Robinhood, which both offer crypto trading services, were higher by more than 1% each.

Meanwhile, shares of bitcoin miners enjoyed bigger boosts. Marathon and Riot, the largest of the mining stocks, rose 10% and 6%, respectively.

CleanSpark advanced 7% and Cipher Mining added 6%. Mining stocks generally benefit from bitcoin price increases because they translate into higher mining revenue for the companies.

Technical Analysis

E-mini S&P 500 Index futures are trading lower at the mid-session on Thursday as investors try to hold on to the current breakout above the 50-day moving average at 4370.65. This level should be considered short-term support followed by normal support at 4336.00.

The next target is resistance at 4424.50. This level stopped the market on October 17 and October 12. Watch for a technical bounce on the first test of this level. However, overcoming it with conviction could launch another acceleration to the upside with 4494.00 the next near-term target.

A failure to hold the 50-day moving average will be a sign of weakness and could even lead to a test of the 200-day moving average at 4278.62 if heavy liquidation takes place.