Stock market today: Live updates

Communication services and consumer discretionary stocks were among the worst performers in the S&P 500, dragging down their respective sectors at least 2.5%.

Take-Two Interactive and Netflix were the worst-performing communication services stocks, falling 2.9% and 2.6%, respectively. Meta Platforms and Alphabet fell less than 1% each.

Tesla weighed on the consumer discretionary sector, dropping 4.6%. Best Buy, Amazon and Bath & Body Works each fell about 2%.

Information technology was another underperforming sector last down more than 2%. Qorvo, Intel, Salesforce and Synopsys all dropped at least 4%. Apple, and Microsoft also weighed down the sector, dropping 2.6% each. ServiceNow fell nearly 5%.

— Samantha Subin

Cathie Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) shed more than 3% Tuesday as the technology sector bore the brunt of the sell-off on Wall Street.

SoFi was the worst performer in the fund as of midday trading, down over 13% after the firm announced offering of a $750 million convertible senior notes due 2029. Ark Invest had just added 782,646 shares of SoFi to another fund Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF).

Also leading the losses was Tesla, ARKK’s second biggest holding. Tesla shares slipped 4.5% Thursday after a suspected arson attack halted production at its Berlin Gigafactory.

ARKK holdings Ginkgo Bioworks, PagerDuty, Prime Medicine, Twilio, UiPath and Archer Aviation were all down at least 5%.

— Yun Li

Investors wondering what’s dragging on the Dow need to look no further than its technology names.

The blue-chip average fell 0.7%, a relatively muted drop compared with the other two major averages. A chunk of that downward pressure was tied to the tough session for tech stocks.

Intel led the 30-stock index down with a drop of more than 4%. Salesforce slipped more than 3%, while Apple and Microsoft lost more than 2% each. Amazon was the fifth worst performer, lower by more than 1.5%.

To be sure, about two-thirds of stocks in the average traded in the red. On the other end of the spectrum, 3M and Walmart led the small group able to buck the trend, with each rising more than 1%.

— Alex Harring

Albemarle shares plunged more than 11% Tuesday after the lithium producer announced it would raise capital by offering $1.75 billion in shares.

Albemarle said in statement Monday that it would use the proceeds form the share offering to construct and expand lithium operations in Australia and China.

Lithium is a key component used in electric vehicle batteries. Battery metal prices, including lithium, have plunged over the past year.

Lithium carbonate prices in China traded at about 108,500 yuan ($15,076) on Tuesday, down nearly 70% from the same period a year ago.

— Spencer Kimball

The iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA) rose 0.3% during Tuesday’s session to notch a new all-time intraday high dating back to its 2006 inception.

AeroVironment led the fund higher, surging nearly 25% on the back of strong earnings and guidance. V2X was another big gainer, last up more than 10%.

The ETF is up a little over 2% since the start of the year.

— Samantha Subin, Gina Francolla

Bitcoin climbed to an all-time high on Tuesday, topping $69,000 and breaking a previous record set in 2021. The cryptocurrency hit a high around $69,210, according to Coin Metrics. It was last up about 1% at $68,307. The move comes amid excitement around bitcoin ETFs and the upcoming halving event.

Services industries reported slightly slower than expected activity for February but also saw a substantial drop in expected price increases, according to an Institute for Supply Management index released Tuesday.

The ISM services index nudged lower to 52.6, slightly below the Dow Jones estimate for 53 and less than the January reading of 53.4. The index measures the percentage of businesses reporting expansion, so anything below 50 indicates contraction.

On the inflation front, the prices index fell sharply, down to 58.6, a decline of 5.4 points though still indicating growth. An earlier reading on the manufacturing sector also showed a slight deceleration in expected price increases.

New export orders, imports employment and inventory sentiment also posted declines while ew orders and business activity rose. Treasury yields moved lower following the release.

—Jeff Cox

Investor euphoria “isn’t close” to where it was before the dot-com bubble burst in the late 1990s, according to UBS.

Additionally, the firm sees reason to stay positive on future market performance, even as the major indexes sit near record highs.

“While there are always economic and market risks, and the climb higher for risk assets may slow, we see evidence that supports a positive near- and medium-term outlook,” firm leaders wrote to clients early Tuesday.

— Alex Harring

The three major indexes opened Tuesday’s session lower, placing the market on track for another down day.

The Dow was was down 0.3% shortly after opening bell. The S&P 500 slipped 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.8%.

— Alex Harring

hough Monday was a slightly down day for the S&P 500, there’s a silver lining when looking at individual member performance.

About 19.5% of stocks in the broad index — or nearly one out of every five members — posted new 52-week highs during Monday’s session. This large group of stocks included major names such as Nvidia, Disney, Meta, Costco, JPMorgan and Eli Lilly.

— Alex Harring

Here are some of the names moving before the bell:

• Tesla — Shares lost 3%. The EV maker halted production at its Berlin plant Tuesday after a power outage due to a nearby substantiation fire, Reuters reported, citing a German newspaper.
• Microstrategy — The bitcoin development company shed 3.3% after the announcing a private offering for $600 million in convertible senior notes. Microstrategy plans to use the proceeds to buy more bitcoin and for general corporate purposes.
• Albemarle — Shares sank more than 7.7% following the announcement of its plans to sell $1.75 billion of depository shares to fund growth capital expenditures, among other uses.

To see more stocks making premarket moves, read the full story here.

— Michelle Fox

Stifel sees a recovery in the cards for cyclical value stocks this year.

“In our view, market to broaden and Value to rally relative to over-valued Growth, with a setup similar to 1H99 during the prior (late-1990s) Tech Bubble,” Barry Bannister, the bank’s chief U.S. equity strategist, wrote in a note.

Bannister added that solid economic growth and sticky inflation are more rewarding for these cyclical value stocks — which should rally in the first half of 2024 — than they are for growth names, which could top sometime this year. More specifically, cyclical value stocks include industries such as banks, capital goods, energy, financial services, insurance, materials, real estate and transports, the strategist underscored.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Apple shares slipped around 2% in Tuesday premarket trading after an investment firm reported soft iPhone sales in China at the start of this year.

Counterpoint Research said in a note to clients that sales of the iconic smartphone tumbled 24% in China during the first six weeks of 2024. It comes as the technology titan faces competition from a bevy of local phone makers.

That adds to recent woes for Apple stock coming off a strong 2023. Shares have slipped more than 3% so far in March and over 9% in 2024.

— Alex Harring, Ryan Browne

Add Jeremy Siegel to the Wall Street crowd that says the current stock market is not reminiscent of the dot com internet euphoria of the late 1990s.

Siegel, senior economist at WisdomTree, emeritus professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of Stocks for the Long Run, said in his weekly commentary that he agrees with those on Wall Street who argue U.S. stocks are not in a bubble.

Siegel wrote that he met last week with 91-year-old economist Burton Malkiel, author of 1973’s seminal A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Malkiel was, “remarkably sharp, and we agreed on almost everything regarding the economy and the stock market,” wrote Siegel, himself 78. Malkiel “is a little bit more worried than I am that we’re currently at the beginning of a bubble like 1996-97. I say it’s possible we will get there, but at this point we are not in a bubble,” Siegel wrote.

Siegel’s take on the current market was sanguine and straightforward: “For the equity markets, I think investors should ‘make the trend your friend’ and don’t fight the tape — which has been consistently higher,” he said.

— Scott Schnipper

Target reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the fourth-quarter, sending shares higher by 7%.

The retailer reported earnings per share of $2.98, excluding items, on revenue of $31.92 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $2.42 per share on revenue of $31.83 billion. To be sure, the company issued lackluster guidance for the year ahead.

— Fred Imbert

Shares of AMD were down more than 2% in the premarket after Bloomberg News reported the Commerce Department did not clear a chip intended to be sold in China.

The report said that, despite AMD making the chip for lower performance than its premium products, the department still found it too advanced for sale in China.

— Fred Imbert

Shares of Indian automaker Tata Motors climbed more than 7% on Tuesday, a day after the company announced it will separate its commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle units in a demerger.

Tata Motors said the split will be implemented through a scheme of arrangement, and all shareholders will continue to have identical shareholding in both the listed entities.

The move will “further empower the respective businesses to pursue their respective strategies to deliver higher growths with greater agility while reinforcing accountability,” the company said.

The demerger is expected to be completed in 12 to 15 months, subject to shareholder, creditor and regulatory approvals. It should not have an adverse impact on employees, customers, and our business partners, the company said.

China is set to increase its defense spending by 7.2% in 2024, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing the official government release as the country’s annual parliamentary meetings started in Beijing.

This follows a 7.2% increase last year, a 7.1% spike in 2022, 6.8% increase in 2021, 6.6% growth in 2020 and 7.5% rise in 2019.

The CSI Defense index jumped 2.2% to its highest level since Jan.15. Shenzhen-listed Fujian Torch Electron rose 1.1%, Aerospace CH UAV added 3.7%, Avic Shenyang Aircraft Co gained 2% and Avic Aviation High Technology gained 1.3%.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

China’s services sector expanded at a slower pace in February compared with January, with the Caixin services purchasing managers’ index slipping to 52.5 in February from 52.7 in the prior month.

The report noted that employment rose slightly for a second straight month, and companies were generally upbeat about the 12-month outlook for activity.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, while one below 50 indicates contraction.

— Lim Hui Jie