Nasdaq Pares Early Gain After Ukraine Says Attack Is Imminent; Splunk Soars On Cisco Report

The stock market closed with modest losses Monday after a rally in technology stocks lifted the Nasdaq composite to an intraday gain of 0.9%. After getting turned away at its 200-day moving average last week, the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) edged higher, helped by big gains from EV maker Lucid (LCID) and Splunk (SPLK). Splunk jumped 9% on reports Cisco Systems (CSCO) made an offer to buy the company.




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The 10-year Treasury bond yield was off highs but still climbed 4 basis points to around 1.99%.

Stocks were poised for a rough open over continuing concerns about a potential Russia/Ukraine conflict as well as an increasingly hawkish Federal Reserve. But sentiment improved after Russia signaled it was still open to diplomacy to resolve the conflict. Stocks worsened in the afternoon after Ukrainian President Zelensky said he was informed that Russia would attack on Feb. 16.

WTI crude oil futures strengthened on the news, settling at $95.46 a barrel, up 2.5%.

U.S. Stock Market Today Overview

IndexSymbolPriceGain/Loss% Change
Dow Jones(0DJIA)34592.90-145.16-0.42
S&P 500(0S&P5)4403.02-15.62-0.35
Nasdaq(0NDQC )13787.21-3.94-0.03
Russell 2000 (IWM)200.51-0.87-0.43
IBD 50 (FFTY)37.17-0.38-1.01
Last Update: 4:00 PM ET 2/14/2022

The Dow Jones industrials fell 0.5%, but Walt Disney (DIS) and Nike (NKE) bucked the trend with gains of around 1%. Disney stock gapped above its 50-day line last week after a bullish earnings report. Walgreens (WBA) and IBM (IBM) lagged in the blue-chip index.

Nasdaq Today

After plunging through the 14,000 level Friday, the Nasdaq composite ended mostly flat. The index has piled up three distribution days since Feb. 7 after confirming a new uptrend on Jan. 31. But the uptrend is clearly under pressure after Friday’s sell-off.

Nvidia (NVDA) also outperformed in the Nasdaq, up 1.3%, ahead of its earnings report Wednesday after the close. But after finding support at its 200-day line, Nvidia is still below its 50-day line, a potential resistance level to watch.

The S&P 500 closed lower by 0.4% amid broad-based weakness in oil and gas stocks. APA Corp. (APA), Marathon Oil (MRO), Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and Diamondback Energy (FANG) were down at least 3%.

Fertilizer Stocks Hit

Leading fertilizer stocks like CF Industries (CF) and Mosaic (MOS) were a drag on the MarketSmith Growth 250, with losses of 6.5% and 5%, respectively.

Several technology stocks topped the MarketSmith Growth 250 performance. Small cap Alpha & Omega Semiconductor (AOSL) is holding support at the 50-day moving average as forms the right side of a base.

Software firm Concentrix (CNXC) continues to show strength and support after a breakout from a double-bottom base with a 187.04 buy point.

Online travel firm Expedia (EXPE) bounced back after Friday’s downside reversal. EXPE stock was off highs but still rose 2.5%. Expedia reported strong Q4 results last week, but the stock got pulled down with the broad market Friday.

Expedia is an earnings option play in Leaderboard.

All S&P sectors were lower, but the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY) bucked the trend, rising 0.6%. The fund was helped by up sessions for Tesla (TSLA) and Amazon.com (AMZN), which make up about 40% of the fund.

Follow Ken Shreve on Twitter @IBD_KShreve for more stock market analysis and insight.

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Source: https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/nasdaq-reverses-lower-ukraine-says-attack-imminent-splunk-soars-on-cisco-report/?src=A00220&yptr=yahoo