Wall Street Struggles For Direction, Tesla Flirts With Record Highs, Bitcoin Tumbles Below $95,000: What's Driving Markets Tuesday?

The U.S. stock market lacked direction on Tuesday morning as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of Wednesday’s release of November inflation data, a critical report that could influence the Federal Reserve’s decision on a potential interest rate cut next week.

Large-cap indices hovered near unchanged levels, while small caps slightly outperformed, with the Russell 2000 up 0.3%.

Notable strength was seen in discretionary and communication services, buoyed by impressive gains in Tesla Inc. TSLA and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL.

Tesla shares surged 4.7%, bringing the electric vehicle maker within striking distance of its all-time high set in November 2021. Alphabet Inc. rallied 4.9% after the tech giant announced the launch of its Willow quantum chip, which boasts an impressive 105 qubits.

While some major tech names rallied, the broader tech sector faced headwinds, particularly semiconductors, which were weighed down by weaker-than-expected earnings, disappointing Chinese trade data and lingering concerns over U.S. trade restrictions and tariffs.

The broader iShares Semiconductor ETF SOXX fell 2.1%, eyeing its worst day since mid November.

The cryptocurrency market took a negative turn, with Bitcoin BTC/USD falling 2.8% to trade below $95,000. This followed a 3.7% decline on Monday, signaling mounting pressure in the digital asset space.

Ethereum ETH/USD plummeted 3.7% after a 7.3% drop on Monday.

Commodities broadly gained. Gold prices rallied 1.3% as investors sought safe-haven assets, while crude oil gained 0.9%.

Tuesday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY flattened at $604.29.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA held steady at $444.91.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ inched 0.1% lower to $522.16.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rose 0.3% to $238.38.
• The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund XLC outperformed, rising 1.6%; the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund XLRE lagged, down 1.3%.

Tuesday’s Stock Movers

• Boeing Co. BA saw its stock rise 5.6% after resuming 737 MAX production with 33,000 workers and plans to build 38 planes monthly to fulfill over 4,200 orders.
• Oracle Corp. ORCL fell nearly 8% after slightly missing Street’s earnings and revenue estimates last quarter.
• Other stocks reacting to earnings reports included MongoDB Inc. MDB, down over 15%, Toll Brothers Inc. TOL, down 6%, AutoZone Inc. AZO, up 1.9% and Ferguson Enterprises Inc. FERG, down 9%.
• Gamestop Corp. GME was 1.7% lower before its third-quarter earnings report, which is scheduled for after the close.
• Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA is negotiating a $7.5 billion sale to Sycamore Partners, sending shares up 27% to $11.20.

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.