Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Rise as Investors Digest Trump Executive Orders; Market Looking to Add to Last Week's Gains

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Trump Media Stock Tumbles 10%

57 minutes ago

President Donald Trump’s social-media stock is dropping in his first hours back in office. 

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT), which owns the Truth Social platform, were recently down 10% at about $36. They’ve mostly fallen since touching January highs above $40 and pre-election highs above $50, though they’re up for the year and well above lows they touched earlier in the fall. 

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The latest moves come as traders seek to position themselves for the start of a new administration. Since Trump’s reelection, there have been plenty of “Trump Trades” at different times—from bullishness in oil shares, big financial institutions and companies with deals on the table to wariness regarding inflation, vaccine makers and government contracting businesses—and U.S. indexes are broadly higher today

Cryptocurrency—in the form of bitcoin, meme coins, industry stocks and other assets and baubles—has also attracted attention from investors.

Trump Media’s stock, with a market value nearing $8 billion, is a comparatively small part of the story, though its volatility over the past few months has shown how it can seize investor attention in a meme-stock fashion. 

“Watch out for sell-the-news flow action following the [inauguration] on Monday,” VandaTrack analysts wrote last week of movement in Trump Media and crypto stocks. “An ensuing slide in these stocks accompanied by strong retail buying would imply institutional investors front-ran retail traders, using them as exit liquidity, thus leaving prices to muddle through thereafter.”

David Marino-Nachison

Intel Levels to Watch as Stock Continues to Rally

1 hr 17 min ago

Intel (INTC) shares rose again Tuesday after surging more than 12% last week as investors bid up the stock following a strategic update and ongoing deal rumors.

Last Tuesday, the embattled chipmaker said it plans to spin off its venture fund as a standalone entity while remaining an investor in an effort to improve efficiency across the business. Later in the week, sentiment received a further boost after a report surfaced that the company might be a takeover target.

Intel shares were up 2.5% at around $22 in early-afternoon trading Tuesday. Despite the recent rally, the stock has lost more than half its value over the past 12 months amid investor skepticism about the company’s ability to capture a greater share of the booming artificial intelligence (AI) chip market.

Source: TradingView.com.

Intel shares staged an impressive reversal last week to form a bullish engulfing pattern, a two-bar candlestick formation that signals a positive shift in investor sentiment. Importantly, the pattern formed around the same location on the chart as the early-September low, setting the stage for a potential double bottom.

Furthermore, last week’s rally occurred on the highest weekly volume since early December, indicating buying conviction from larger market participants, such as institutional investors and hedge funds.

Investors should follow crucial overhead levels on Intel’s chart around $25, $30, and $37, while also tracking a key support level near $19.

Read the full technical analysis piece here.

Timothy Smith

Moderna Jumps on U.S. Funding to Develop Bird-Flu Vaccine

1 hr 55 min ago

Shares of Moderna (MRNA) took off Tuesday when the biotech firm announced that the U.S. government has awarded it more than a half a billion dollars to develop a vaccine that can be used against bird flu.

The company said the $590 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was aimed at accelerating development of “mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccines,” including mRNA-1018.

Moderna explained that it began Phase 1/2 testing of mRNA-1018 in 2023 in healthy adults aged 18 and up, including candidates against the H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses. It noted that based on positive preliminary results, it was launching a Phase 3 study.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that bird flu “is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows with several recent human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers.” It noted that while the current public health risk is low, it is monitoring the situation carefully.

Earlier this month, Cal-Maine Foods (CALM), the biggest U.S. egg producer, said egg prices have continued to rise because of limits on production because of the bird flu outbreak. 

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Even with today’s roughly 5% increase, Moderna shares remain nearly 65% lower over the last year as COVID-19 vaccine sales slump. The stock, which had risen to more than $400 in mid-2021, is trading around the same levels it was at prior to the pandemic in 2000.

Bill McColl

3M Stock Jumps After Strong Earnings, Leads Dow Gainers

2 hr 59 min ago

3M (MMM) shares surged Tuesday after the industrial conglomerate topped fourth-quarter profit and sales estimates on higher demand for a wide range of its products.

The maker of Post-it notes and Scotch tape posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.68, above analysts’ estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Revenue was up 0.1% from a year ago to $6 billion, and $5.8 billion excluding revenue from so-called “forever chemicals,” which it will no longer produce. Both figures were ahead of forecasts.

The company credited the sales gains to “broad based growth in industrial, strength in electronics and aero, softer auto builds, strong holiday season.”

Revenue at the company’s Transportation & Electronics unit rose 3.4% to $7.5 billion on “new product launches and spec-wins that drove share gain.” It increased 0.7% to $11 billion at the Safety & Industrial segment on higher demand for roofing and industrial adhesive products. Revenue fell 1.2% to $4.9 billion at the Consumer division.

3M added that its restructuring program launched in 2023 to focus on simplifying operations and improving margins is “largely complete.”

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3M shares were up nearly 5% this morning, leading gainers in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and trading at their highest levels in three years.

Bill McColl

Apple Slides as Jefferies Downgrades, JPM Lowers Price Target

3 hr 53 min ago

Apple (AAPL) shares fell Tuesday after Jefferies downgraded the stock to an “underperform” from “hold” on Monday, as flagging iPhone sales and weak demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) features in newer models are expected to lead the tech giant to undershoot quarterly revenue forecasts.

Jefferies also cut its price target on Apple to $200.75 per share from $211.84 each. Apple is due to report its first quarter 2025 numbers on Jan. 30.

Apple shares were down 3.5% at around $222 in recent trading. The stock is down about 11% so far this year, significantly lagging the S&P 500’s performance over the period.

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“We lower forecasts driven by weak iPhone sales and the general [consumer electronics] market and our reduced outlook for iPhone 17/18 due to slower AI uptake and commercialization,” Jefferies analysts wrote, adding that the brokerage expects Apple to miss its first-quarter 2025 revenue guidance of 5% growth. They also said the tech firm’s guidance for the March quarter “could also disappoint.”

Separately, JPMorgan (JPM) analysts on Tuesday stuck with an overweight call on Apple but downgraded their price target to $260 from $265, citing wariness about the company’s outlook.

Among their concerns: The strong dollar at a time of limited appetite for Apple products, and “flattish unit sales” given the current AI features, as well as weak China demand. They said Apple will continue to lose market share in China as it’s already “past its product cycle peak” and also the company’s premium phones don’t benefit from local government subsidies for low-to-mid-tier phones.

Apple shares fell sharply last Thursday as data from research firm Canalys indicated the tech giant lost its coveted position as China’s largest smartphone seller last year. Apple’s China iPhones aren’t equipped with its recently launched AI features.

Nisha Gopalan

Bitcoin Levels to Watch After Volatile Inauguration Day Trading

4 hr 42 min ago

Bitcoin (BTCUSDset a new record high ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday but pared those gains as the new U.S. president, who has been a vocal supporter of the cryptocurrency market, made no mention of it during his inaugural address or other appearances after taking office.

Bitcoin has gained nearly 50% since the early-November election amid optimism that the Trump administration could reduce regulatory roadblocks, establish a bitcoin reserve and pursue other initiatives that promote the widespread adoption of digital assets.

Bitcoin was trading at $103,800 recently, up from an overnight low of around $100,000, but down from the record high of over $109,000 set Monday morning.

Source: TradingView.com.

Over the weekend, two bearish candlestick patterns formed on the cryptocurrency’s chart that warn of a potential move lower.

Investors should watch key support levels on Bitcoin’s chart around $92,000, $87,000, and $74,000, while also monitoring important overhead areas near $106,000 and $120,000.

Read the full technical analysis piece here.

Timothy Smith

Stock Futures Point to Higher Open for Major Indexes

5 hr 49 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.4%.

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S&P 500 futures were also up 0.4%.

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Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.5%.

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