While the main market indexes rose on Thursday, megacap tech struggled as investors digested fresh earnings from Nvidia (NVDA) and a tumble from Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) amid a Department of Justice move to interrupt up its empire.

Our have a look at the Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) below shows the downbeat sentiment was largely kept to the most important tech names and didn’t proliferate throughout the index. This was also seen within the broader Information Technology (XLK) sector, which rose 1% on the day.

MicroStrategy stock (MSTR) tanked greater than 17% in late trading on Thursday.

The stock had been up in premarket trading as bitcoin, which MicroStrategy owns a big chunk of, hit record highs. But early in Thursday’s session short seller Citron Research said it had taken a latest bet against the stock, which has gained over 600% this yr.

Citron Research said that while the firm stays bullish on bitcoin — and was bullish on MicroStrategy’s bitcoin play years ago — the move in MicroStrategy stock has “completely detached from BTC fundamentals.”

Read more here.

Recent data released Thursday morning showed weekly jobless claims hit their lowest level since April, reversing any concerns from recent upticks seen in the information over the past several months.

Data from the Department of Labor showed 213,000 initial jobless claims were filed within the week ending Nov. 16, down from 219,000 the week prior and below the 220,000 economists had expected.

The weekly unemployment claims have been falling steadily throughout the past several weeks after hitting their highest level in greater than a yr in October.

“After being boosted by the Boeing strike and Hurricanes Helene and Milton, claims have returned to a level consistent with limited layoffs,” Oxford Economics lead US economist Nancy Vanden Houten wrote in a note to clients on Thursday.

Weakness within the labor market had been a priority through the summer and into the autumn as jobless claims picked up together with an increase within the unemployment rate and a decline in monthly job gains. This data contributed to the Fed’s calculus when cutting rates of interest by half a percentage point in September.

But since then, labor market data has are available higher than expected with the unemployment rate falling from a peak of 4.3% to 4.1%. And for now things seem like OK on the labor side of the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate.

“The weekly claims report stays the very best real-time monitor of labor market conditions,” Jefferies US economist Thomas Simons wrote in a note to clients on Thursday. “At once, the information show that the labor market is trending sideways at a healthy level.”

Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith reports:

Crypto enthusiasts got the announcement they wanted Thursday when Gary Gensler said he would step down from the SEC in January, clearing the way in which for a more favorable relationship between the cryptocurrency industry and a key Washington regulator.

A Gensler exit as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission was high on the wish list of many crypto executives, and President-elect Donald Trump made the removal of the SEC boss a promise to the industry while on the campaign trail.

Read more here.

Nvidia’s (NVDA) third quarter earnings report out Wednesday saw the chipmaker once more blow away Wall Street forecasts.

And analysts across the Street were quick to praise the outcomes, which showed the world’s largest public company continuing to learn from the AI boom.

Wedbush’s Dan Ives called the outcomes “flawless” and said Nvidia’s earnings release “ought to be framed and hung within the Louvre” in a note to investors Thursday.

“We imagine the trail to $4 trillion market cap and beyond is now laid out by Nvidia and that is bullish for the broader tech rally into year-end and 2025,” Ives wrote.

While other analysts didn’t go to date as to attract parallels between Nvidia’s financials and wonderful art, analysts at investment firms including JPMorgan (JPM), DA Davidson, and Bernstein raised their price targets on the stock following Wednesday’s report.

Those analysts and others were encouraged by Nvidia’s statements about its Blackwell products and dismissed anxieties over an AI spending slowdown.

Read the total story here.

Eight of the 11 sectors were outperforming the S&P 500 (^GSPC) on Thursday and in a widespread rally on Wall Street.

Financials (XLF) led the sector motion, rising greater than 1.5%. Only the Consumer Discretionary (XLY) and Communications Services (XLC) sectors were underperforming the benchmark index.

Below is a have a look at the day’s sector motion.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler will step down on January 20, 2025, the SEC announced on Thursday.

Gensler, who began his tenure in April 2021, didn’t provide a selected reason in his statement for why he’s stepping down.

“The Securities and Exchange Commission is a remarkable agency,” Gensler said in an announcement. “The staff and the Commission are deeply mission-driven, focused on protecting investors, facilitating capital formation, and ensuring that the markets work for investors and issuers alike. The staff comprises true public servants. It has been an honor of a lifetime to serve with them on behalf of on a regular basis Americans and be certain that our capital markets remain the very best on the earth.”

Gensler’s departure day aligns with Inauguration Day, when President-elect Donald Trump is predicted to be sworn in as the following president of the US. In July, Trump attended a bitcoin conference in Nashville to court voters. Trump’s guarantees to the industry include appointing a crypto Presidential Advisory Council, firing SEC Chair Gary Gensler, and making a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile.”

Oil jumped greater than 1% on Thursday because the Russia-Ukraine war escalated, outweighing an uptick in inventories.

West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) futures hovered slightly below $70 per barrel, while Brent (BZ=F), the international benchmark, traded just above $74 per barrel.

Crude moved higher after Kyiv said Moscow launched what seemed to be a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into Ukraine, in what could be the primary use in war of a weapon primarily used for nuclear delivery. Western officials later told Reuters their initial evaluation showed it was not an ICBM, but they left open the likelihood their conclusion could change.

Read more here.

Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration for US attorney general.

“While the momentum was strong, it is obvious that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no such thing as a time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I will be withdrawing my name from consideration to function Attorney General,” wrote Gaetz on X on Thursday.

Last week President-elect Donald Trump picked Gaetz to function attorney general. The pick was controversial since Gaetz was recently at the middle of a House Ethics investigation. The report on that probe has not been released.

Yahoo Finance’s Claire Boston reports:

Mortgage rates ticked up last week, providing little relief to prospective homebuyers in a seasonally slower time for the housing market.

The common 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.84% within the week through Wednesday, in response to Freddie Mac data, compared with 6.78% every week earlier. The common 15-year rate rose to six.02%, from 5.99% every week earlier.

Rates have been marching back toward 7% as 10-year Treasury yields, which closely track mortgage rates, have remained around 4.4% within the weeks because the election.

Read more here.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was trading in green territory by 11:45 a.m. ET on Thursday as stocks pared losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was down 0.5% as shares of Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) weighed on the tech-heavy index.

The tech giant sank greater than 6% as as investors assessed the Department of Justice’s push for Google to sell its Chrome browser.

Meanwhile Nvidia (NVDA) shares also sagged greater than 1% after gaining as much as 4% in early trading.

Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:

MicroStrategy (MSTR) stock was on one other wild ride early Thursday, rising as much as 11% before forfeiting a piece of those gains after short seller Citron Research said it had taken a latest bet against the stock, which has gained over 600% this yr.

MicroStrategy stock has soared greater than 80% since crypto-friendly President-elect Donald Trump’s victory earlier in November. Bitcoin itself is up roughly 30% over the identical period, hitting a fresh record of $98,000 early Thursday before paring gains after the market open.

In a post on X early Thursday, Citron Research said that while the firm stays bullish on bitcoin — and was bullish on MicroStrategy’s bitcoin play years ago — the move in MicroStrategy stock has “completely detached from BTC fundamentals.”

Read more here.

Losses on the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) accelerated to a session low on Thursday. The tech-heavy index dropped greater than 1.2%, with Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) shares leading the declines.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) also fell 0.4%.

Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) shares tumbled greater than 5% on Thursday morning as investors assessed the Department of Justice’s proposed Google changes which include the forced sale of Google’s Chrome browser.

Alphabet shares sank to a session low by 10:30 a.m. ET.

The remainder of the “Magnificent Seven” stocks lagged too, with AI chip heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA) dropping greater than 2%. Amazon (AMZN) and Meta (META) also sank.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares struggled for direction on Thursday morning, flipping between positive and negative territory. The stock pared gains after surging greater than 4% in early trading.

By 10:10 a.m. ET, shares were trading down greater than 1.5%. Nvidia beat on profit in its latest quarter but projected slowing revenue growth.

Wall Street analysts, nonetheless were bullish on the corporate’s next-generation chip, called Blackwell, with Wedbush’s Dan Ives stating the corporate’s results were “flawless.”

“We’d characterize results as one other earnings press release from Nvidia that ought to be framed and hung within the Louvre given these eye popping results and unprecedented growth from the Godfather of AI Jensen and Nvidia,” wrote Ives.

Existing home sales rose in October as house hunters returned to the market.

Sales of previously owned homes increased 2.9% from a yr ago to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of three.96 million, marking the primary annual gain since July 2021, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Sales climbed 3.4% from September.

Economists polled by Bloomberg expected existing home sales to achieve a pace of three.95 million in October.

“The worst of the downturn in home sales may very well be over, with increasing inventory resulting in more transactions,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun wrote in a press statement.

Homes typically go under contract a month or two before the contract closes, which suggests the October data largely reflects decisions made in September and August.

Rates on the 30-year mortgages fell to around 6% in September. Cheaper borrowing costs typically spur more housing activity. But rates are actually hovering around 6.7%, in response to Freddie Mac.

“Additional job gains and continued economic growth appear assured, leading to growing housing demand. Nonetheless, for many first-time homebuyers, mortgage financing is critically necessary,” Yun said. “While mortgage rates remain elevated, they’re expected to stabilize.”

The information also showed that the median home price rose 4% from last October to $407,200, marking the sixteenth consecutive month of annual price increases.

US stocks climbed on Thursday as investors digested Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings while bitcoin (BTC-USD) briefly hit yet one more record high just north of $98,000.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.3%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) added 0.%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) placed on 0.6%, coming off a muted day for the main gauges.

Nvidia beat on profit within the third quarter, however the chipmaker’s revenue growth forecast slowed. Shares of the AI chip heavyweight erased premarket losses to open 4% higher.

Meanwhile, bitcoin soared greater than 5% earlier on Thursday, climbing closer to the $100,000 threshold amid optimism that the incoming Trump administration will implement crypto-friendly policies.

Weekly jobless claims rose lower than expected last week in an indication of cooling within the labor market.

Recent data from the Department of Labor showed 213,000 initial jobless claims were filed within the week ending Nov. 16, down from 219,000 the week prior and below the 220,000 economists had expected. The weekly claims for unemployment have been falling steadily throughout the past several weeks after hitting their highest level in greater than a yr in October.

Meanwhile, the number of constant applications for unemployment advantages hit 1.9 million, up 36,000 from the week prior and the best level since November 2021.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) jumped greater than 5% to a record high Thursday morning, trading just north of $98,000 amid speculation of pro-crypto policies from an incoming Trump administration.

The token has soared roughly 40% because the presidential elections earlier this month, hitting multiple milestones as investors eye the goal of $100,000.

Reports that President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has discussed the potential of a first-ever crypto policy chief for the White House has helped lift the token up to now 24 hours.

Bitcoin has been a key component of the Trump trade, because the incoming president has promised to explore crypto-friendly initiatives, including the creation of a national bitcoin stockpile.