Dow closes at record high as Fed-fueled rally continues on Wall Street

On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a new all-time high, despite closing slightly lower. The index surged by up to 245 points, hitting an intraday record of 41,420 before settling back. Its previous record high was 41,376, set on July 18.

The Dow ultimately closed at 41,240, marking a gain of 65.44 points, or 0.2%, and surpassing its previous record close of 41,198.08 from July 17. In contrast, the S&P 500 fell by 0.3%, and the Nasdaq dropped by 0.9%. Investors are now awaiting inflation data to gain insights into potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

Nvidia dropped 2.3% ahead of its report on Wednesday in what is set to be the US stock market’s most closely watched event of the week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at a record high

Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at a record high even as losses for Big Tech pull the S&P 500 and Nasdaq lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) notched a record close on Monday while the other two major averages slid as investors weighed the imminent arrival of interest rate cuts and braced for a busy week dominated by Nvidia's (NVDA) earnings report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 0.1% to close at a new high of 41,240.52. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) sank roughly 0.8%.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.3%, remaining within 0.9% of its record set in July. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.9%, pulled down by several technology companies that tend to tip the market because of their big values. Nvidia lost 2.2%, Microsoft fell 0.8%, Amazon dropped 0.9%, Meta Platforms slid 1.3% and Tesla lost 3.2.

The Dow rose 0.2%, to 41,240, eclipsing its previous high set in mid-July. The Dow is less influenced by Big Tech, with only Apple and Microsoft among the most valuable “Magnificent Seven” stocks in the index. That helped limit the effect of the Big Tech decliners.

Nvidia is set to release its earnings report late Wednesday, with Wall Street anticipating the artificial intelligence leader will report earnings of 65 cents per share on revenue of $28.7 billion, according to FactSet estimates. Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives has termed this report as the "most important tech earnings in years."

Nvidia reports its latest financial results Wednesday

Semiconductor company Nvidia reports its latest financial results Wednesday. It has been a big beneficiary of Wall Street’s mania around artificial intelligence, becoming one of the stock market’s most massive companies, with a total value topping $3 trillion. The stock is up more than 155% for the year.

Featured on the IBD Leaderboard, Nvidia saw its stock drop 2.3% on Monday but remains close to its recent highs. The stock is forming a base with a 140.76 buy point, though an early entry could be considered at 136.15.

Some investors worried that anything short of a stellar forecast from Nvidia could shatter Wall Street’s rally in AI-related companies, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta Platforms.

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