Nasdaq, S&P and Dow Drop While One Large Stock Gains

As of market close, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) is down 1.5% on news from the Middle East escalating, which is causing an oil price spike, combined with the port workers strike. Despite the overall negative news and market performance today,…

Published October 1, 2024, 2:06pm ET · 1 min read

A close-up, angled photograph of the Nasdaq stock exchange floor. A large, bright blue 'NASDAQ' logo dominates the upper part of the image, set against a dark background. Below, several smaller rectangular digital screens display market data, showing positive percentage gains like '+1.4%' and '+1.3%' in green text, alongside ticker symbols and numerical values. Overhead, various black stage lights with bright white beams are visible, illuminating the display.
The prominent Nasdaq market display, illuminated by overhead lights, showcases positive trading activity, a visual representation of the dynamic environment for Nasdaq-100 linked ETFs like JEPQ and QQQI. © Wikimedia Commons

As of market close, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) is down 1.5% on news from the Middle East escalating, which is causing an oil price spike, combined with the port workers strike.

Despite the overall negative news and market performance today, Meta Platforms (META) is up about 0.7%, making it the only meaningful large tech tech company showing gains. This is despite meaningful sell-offs in Apple (AAPL) of -3.7%, Microsoft (MSFT) of -2.1% and Nvidia (NVDA) down -3.8%.

I personally remain invested in all 4 of these companies and have no plans of trimming my positions based on this short-term news, including Meta which remains my largest position.

That said, Friday might bring another whiplash to the market, with September’s jobs report coming in. Ironically if the report is “too strong” for major investors, the market might drop as it would imply to them that the Fed would be less willing to provide more meaningful rate cuts in 2024. And if the report is too weak, it might imply that we’ve gone beyond a soft landing and are heading towards a recession.

Here’s to Goldilocks finding her perfect porridge on Friday for broad market investors in the Nasdaq, S&P and Dow index funds.

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Jeremy Phillips

I've been writing about stocks and personal finance for 20+ years. I believe all great companies are tech companies in the long run, and I invest accordingly.

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