Stock market news for July 11, 2024

The S&P 500 fell on Thursday as investors rotated out of large-cap technology stocks.

The broad market index pulled back 0.88% to close at 5,584.54. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.95% to finish the session at 18,283.41, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down 32.39 points, or 0.08%, to 39,753.75.

— Brian Evans

The rolling, five-day moving average ratio of outstanding put options (bearish) to call options (bullish) “is reaching extreme levels of complacency,” Wolfe Research technical analyst Rob Ginsberg wrote to clients late Wednesday before the stock market opened Thursday. “The last time it signaled was July of last year, which ended up being pretty timely,” Ginsberg said.

The other contrarian signal Wolfe observed was the S&P 500 relative strength index, or RSI, closing above 80 on Wednesday for only the fifth time in the past 25 years. The Nasdaq-100 index RSI also closed above 80 on Wednesday.

“The unrelenting rally has brushed aside every single divergence and signal that has developed, so I’m sure it will laugh at these as well, but the combination of [these two events] does not happen often,” Ginsberg said.

At their lows on Thursday, the S&P 500 fell as much as 1.02% while the Nasdaq-100 dropped as much as 2.47%.

Large-cap biotech stocks also were positive, with Moderna rising more than 4%, Iqvia up nearly 3% and Gilead Sciences up 2%, among others.

Biotech companies, especially those at the clinical stage, are very dependent upon debt. For that reason, they tend to perform better when interest rates are lower.

With today’s gains, the IBB has risen about 6% year to date, with much of that momentum coming over the past month. Month to date, the fund has climbed 5%.

— Christina Cheddar Berk

The Federal Trade Commission is planning to delay its decision on whether to halt Chevron‘s acquisition of Hess Corporation until after an arbitration case with Exxon Mobil is resolved, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.

Exxon is claiming a right of first refusal over Hess’ lucrative oil assets in Guyana. Chevron has warned its deal with Hess would terminate if Exxon prevails in arbitration court.

An outcome in the arbitration is not expected until the fourth quarter at the earliest.

The FTC’s reported decision to hold off until the dispute with Exxon is resolved could delay the completion of the Chevron-Hess deal even longer. The FTC declined to comment.

Shares of Chevron and Hess were little changed in afternoon trading.

— Spencer Kimball

Shares of QuantumScape soared 33% after the company reached an agreement with the Volkswagen Group-owned battery company PowerCo to mass produce battery cells based on QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal battery technology. Volkswagen shares also moved marginally higher following the announcement.

Per the agreement, PowerCo can manufacture up to 40 gigawatt hours, or GWh, a year using QuantumScape’s technology, with the option to increase that up to 80 GWh. This is enough to equip about one million vehicles annually, according to the companies.

The deal replaces an earlier joint venture between QuantumScape and Volkswagen to co-manufacture batteries.

— Sean Conlon

The Russell 2000 jumped in Thursday’s session, bucking the broader market’s slide in a rare showing of idiosyncratic strength.

The small cap-focused index jumped 3.2% in the session. Meanwhile, the broad S&P 500 slipped 0.8%.

If this holds through the closing bell, it will be the first time since 2008 that the Russell 2000 advanced at least 3% while the S&P 500 was…