Dow Jones Rises Amid Economic Data; Cathie Wood Loads Up On AI Leader After Downgrade

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose from session lows in late trading and was higher by 0.3% ahead of the Labor Day weekend.

On Friday, nonfarm payroll data showed that the jobs market weakened in August. Unemployment rates rose to 3.8%, according to Econoday. The economy added 187,000 jobs in August, but payroll data for June and July was revised lower.

However, manufacturing activity in August came in above views of 47 as the Purchasing Managers’ Manufacturing Index hit 47.9, though it was lower than July’s 49. The Institute of Supply Management also came in higher than consensus of 46.8 at 47.6. The qualitative measure of business activity suggested an improvement from July’s 46.4, though a reading above 50 is required to indicate expansion.

The S&P 500 fell to the day’s lows at midday and gained 0.2% at 4 p.m. ET Friday.

The Nasdaq gave back morning gains and was flat at the closing bell.

Volume was lower on both the NYSE and Nasdaq compared with the same time on Thursday.

The small-cap Russell 2000 and Innovator IBD 50 (FFTY) each gained 1% on Friday.

Crude oil surged over 2% to trade at $85.78 a barrel.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 8 basis points to 4.17%.

Dow Jones Stocks

Salesforce[ticker symb=CRM] is in a cup base with a buy point at 238.22 after margins exceeded 30% during the second quarter for the first time. The stock was flat at the close of trading.

Apple (AAPL) rose close to a buy point of 198.23 amid rumors of price increases when its new phone launches.

Stocks Moving Today

EV rivals to Tesla (TSLA) rose after strong deliveries. Warren Buffett backed Byd (BYDDF) rose after record sales in August but finished short of its 50-day line. The EV maker has set itself a tall order of selling 3 million vehicles in 2023. Li Auto (LI) and Xpeng (XPEV) pared some early gains but Nio (NIO) held the bulk of its gains at the hour.

Samsara (IOT) soared after reporting its first profitable quarter. Shares broke out at 29.79 from a double-bottom base. Samsara makes connected cloud-based applications for construction and other industries dependent on physical operations.

Among homebuilders, Toll Brothers (TOL) broke out of a flat base with a buy point of 83.72. The relative strength line is at a 52-week high, earning it an RS Line Blue Dot from MarketSmith. TOL stock was an addition to IBD SwingTrader Friday.

Other breakouts included oil and gas exploration and production stock CNX Resources (CNX) and building materials stock Eagle Materials (EXP).

Enterprise software stock Nutanix (NTNX) gapped up above a buy point of 33.73 after earnings. But another software play, PagerDuty (PD), dived after earnings and an outlook that suggested earnings of 13 cents to 14 cents per share for the third quarter. Research analysts at Baird downgraded the stock from outperform to neutral with a price target of 25, down from 32.

AI tailwinds gave MongoDB (MDB) a lift on Friday, but the stock pared much of the early gains after results. Sales grew 40% as earnings soared to 93 cents per share, reversing a 23-cent loss in the same quarter a year earlier. The database giant also slashed its negative free cash flow nearly in half from the prior year.

Other earnings movers included Broadcom (AVGO) and VMware (VMW). AVGO fell to its 50-day line in the stock market today. VMW closed below its 170 buy point of a cup base. The stock is above its 50-day line and has retained its RS Line Blue Dot for now.

Cathie Wood Loads Up on AI Play

Outside of the Dow Jones, AI play Palantir (PLTR) rose and approached its 50-day line. Late Thursday, Cathie Wood’s Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) bought 58,326 shares of the stock, while Ark Innovation (ARKK) loaded up on 525,292 shares and Ark Next Gen Internet (ARKW) got 89,384 shares of PLTR. Palantir fell on Thursday after it got a downgrade from Morgan Stanley analysts to underweight from equal weight. PLTR gained over 1% in the stock market Friday.

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