Stock Market Today: Insurer Retreats, Power Stock Soars

The major indexes closed near the day's lows Friday as the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 fell for a third straight day.

Major indexes closed near the day's lows Friday as the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 fell for a third straight day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% in the stock market today. The S&P 500 sank 0.7% and the Nasdaq lost 0.8%. The small-cap Russell 2000 fell 0.6%.

The Nasdaq broke a six-week winning streak with a 3.7% loss for the week. The S&P 500 lost 2% for the week. The Dow reduced a hefty weekly gain to less than 1%.

Early data showed that volume fell on the NYSE and Nasdaq, despite options expirations Friday. Losers beat winners on the NYSE and Nasdaq by 7-4.

W.R. Berkley (WRB) tumbled nearly 8% in heavy volume and is on pace for its largest decrease since April 21, 2023, when it fell 9.2%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. This breaks a five-day winning streak. The insurance stock undercut its 50-day moving average and sank to the lows of a cup base. The stock is the second worst performer in the S&P 500 today.

In contrast, Hawaiian Electric Industries (HE) gapped up around 38% in huge volume, after Bloomberg reported the company is nearing a settlement of litigation from the deadly Maui wildfires last year. Hawaiian Electric is one of the companies agreeing to pay part of the $4 billion settlement. The stock lost around 70% following the August 2023 wildfires.

The price of bitcoin jumped 4.7% to more than $66,500. That lifted IBD 50 and Big Cap 20 bitcoin-related stocks Friday.

Cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinbase Global (COIN) springboarded more than 9% on the stock market today. Crypto-friendly brokerage Robinhood Markets (HOOD) jumped 3.4%

Two crypto mining stocks topped the IBD 50 on Friday. Hut 8 (HUT) surged around 9% and CleanSpark (CLSK) powered up 7.5%.

Outside of IBD 50 and Big Cap names, bitcoin holder MicroStrategy (MSTR) soared more than 12% and is bumping up to a level of resistance around 1,740.

Intel (INTC) was a big loser in the Dow Jones while investors also focused on earnings sell-offs for American Express (AXP) and Travelers (TRV) in the stock market today.

A CrowdStrike (CRWD) update glitch caused a global IT outage via Microsoft (MSFT) cloud servers, causing major disruptions worldwide. CrowdStrike said it wasn't a cyberattack, and a fix has been deployed. CrowdStrike was off lows but still fell 9% at midday.

American Express was among the worst performers on the stock market today, down 4%, after the company missed on revenue. Insurance giant Travelers was also under pressure, down 5%, after missing on revenue as well. Intel also lagged in the Dow, down more than 5%.

Semiconductor stocks came under pressure again, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) down 1.6%. Inside the MarketSurge Growth 250, chip stocks like Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR), Axcelis Technologies (ACLS), Cirrus Logic (CRUS) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) showed losses of around 3%.

TSMC shares were volatile Thursday despite a strong earnings report.

Investors focused on earnings reports from Netflix (NFLX) and Intuitive Surgical (ISRG). Netflix reversed slightly lower after the company reported another quarter of strong subscriber growth. Ad-supported memberships increased 34% in Q2, while global paid memberships increased 16.5% to 278 million.

Intuitive Surgical bounced more than 7% on the stock market today after a two-session sell-off brought the stock to its 50-day line Thursday. Shares were strong after the company reported better than expected earnings and revenue.

In the chip space, Nvidia (NVDA) edged lower after a solid gain Thursday. The AI bellwether is holding just above its 50-day line. Elsewhere, Arm Holdings (ARM) jumped more than 2%, helped by a Morgan Stanley upgrade to overweight from equal weight.