We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience.
This includes personalizing content and advertising.
By pressing "Accept All" or closing out of this banner, you consent to the use of all cookies and similar technologies and the sharing of information they collect with third parties.
You can reject marketing cookies by pressing "Deny Optional," but we still use essential, performance, and functional cookies.
In addition, whether you "Accept All," Deny Optional," click the X or otherwise continue to use the site, you accept our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, revised from time to time.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
Non-Tech Markets Lose Steam; Nasdaq Approaches Record High
Read MoreHide Full Article
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Markets look to have grown fairly exhausted today, sliding from the green to red during the morning hours and closing flat-to-down (aside from the Nasdaq, where the tech trade remains healthy) and reaching the closing bell at lackluster levels. The Dow slipped 106 points, -0.25%, while the S&P 500 was exactly unched — 0.0% — on the day. The Nasdaq gained +61 points, +0.31%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 closed at session lows: -0.99%.
The morning-hours catalyst may have been Fed Chair Jerome Powell today, appearing before the Senate Banking Committee to discuss the possibility of cutting interest rates. Yesterday, Powell energized markets somewhat when he told the House Financial Services that the Fed could cut rates “sooner than later,” but today he predicted inflation coming from tariff policy in the coming months. “Someone has to pay,” he told the panel.
Yet the Nasdaq is approaching fresh all-time highs not seen since February, as the AI-trade narrative has kept top tech stocks buoyant. Take NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) , for instance, which is up nearly +64% just since its early April lows during trade war fears before reciprocal tariffs were paused for 90 days. Shares are now at record highs as AI investment reported by companies in various industries are engaged in the technological buildout for which NVIDIA leads in component-building.
Micron Beats & Raises for Q3
Fiscal Q3 earnings were released after today’s close from data storage giant Micron (MU - Free Report) . This company is a good example of how AI investment bolsters companies in this realm of the tech space, as well. Earnings of $1.68 per share outpaced the Zacks consensus by 9 cents, up a whopping +171% year over year. Revenues of $9.30 billion easily surpassed the $8.84 billion analysts were looking for.
Bot only that, but Micron raised guidance fairly significantly for its fiscal Q4: earnings of between $2.35-2.65 per share is well ahead of the $2.02 consensus, with between $10.4-11.0 billion in revenues far beyond the $9.9 billion previously projected. As such, expect this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold)-based stock to ratchet up a bit in the days to come. Shares had already been up +51.2% year to date, and are up another +4% in late trading. (You can see the full Zacks Earnings Calendar here. https://www.zacks.com/earnings/earnings-calendar)
What to Expect from the Stock Market Thursday
We have a full plate of economic reports before tomorrow’s opening bell, with a new Trade Balance in Goods, Retail/Wholesale Inventories, Durable Goods and Pending Home Sales all accompanying the second revision to Q1 GDP. But what we’ll be paying extra close attention to tomorrow are the Weekly Jobless Claims.
Initial Jobless Claims touched 250K a couple weeks ago, second only to the 259K reported back in early October of last year (which appears like an anomalous blip on the screen). They came back down to 245K in last week’s report, and we hope to see this continue downward.
Continuing Claims, reported a week in arrears from new claims, clearly look they are breaking out to new levels. After spending much of 2025 chopping back and forth between 1.85-1.9 million, the past two weeks have shot up to a new range around 1.95 million. If this comes back down we won’t make too much of it. But touching that 2 million level on longer-term jobless claims will have a psychological effect on markets — and perhaps the Fed as well.
Image: Shutterstock
Non-Tech Markets Lose Steam; Nasdaq Approaches Record High
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Markets look to have grown fairly exhausted today, sliding from the green to red during the morning hours and closing flat-to-down (aside from the Nasdaq, where the tech trade remains healthy) and reaching the closing bell at lackluster levels. The Dow slipped 106 points, -0.25%, while the S&P 500 was exactly unched — 0.0% — on the day. The Nasdaq gained +61 points, +0.31%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 closed at session lows: -0.99%.
The morning-hours catalyst may have been Fed Chair Jerome Powell today, appearing before the Senate Banking Committee to discuss the possibility of cutting interest rates. Yesterday, Powell energized markets somewhat when he told the House Financial Services that the Fed could cut rates “sooner than later,” but today he predicted inflation coming from tariff policy in the coming months. “Someone has to pay,” he told the panel.
Yet the Nasdaq is approaching fresh all-time highs not seen since February, as the AI-trade narrative has kept top tech stocks buoyant. Take NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) , for instance, which is up nearly +64% just since its early April lows during trade war fears before reciprocal tariffs were paused for 90 days. Shares are now at record highs as AI investment reported by companies in various industries are engaged in the technological buildout for which NVIDIA leads in component-building.
Micron Beats & Raises for Q3
Fiscal Q3 earnings were released after today’s close from data storage giant Micron (MU - Free Report) . This company is a good example of how AI investment bolsters companies in this realm of the tech space, as well. Earnings of $1.68 per share outpaced the Zacks consensus by 9 cents, up a whopping +171% year over year. Revenues of $9.30 billion easily surpassed the $8.84 billion analysts were looking for.
Bot only that, but Micron raised guidance fairly significantly for its fiscal Q4: earnings of between $2.35-2.65 per share is well ahead of the $2.02 consensus, with between $10.4-11.0 billion in revenues far beyond the $9.9 billion previously projected. As such, expect this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold)-based stock to ratchet up a bit in the days to come. Shares had already been up +51.2% year to date, and are up another +4% in late trading. (You can see the full Zacks Earnings Calendar here. https://www.zacks.com/earnings/earnings-calendar)
What to Expect from the Stock Market Thursday
We have a full plate of economic reports before tomorrow’s opening bell, with a new Trade Balance in Goods, Retail/Wholesale Inventories, Durable Goods and Pending Home Sales all accompanying the second revision to Q1 GDP. But what we’ll be paying extra close attention to tomorrow are the Weekly Jobless Claims.
Initial Jobless Claims touched 250K a couple weeks ago, second only to the 259K reported back in early October of last year (which appears like an anomalous blip on the screen). They came back down to 245K in last week’s report, and we hope to see this continue downward.
Continuing Claims, reported a week in arrears from new claims, clearly look they are breaking out to new levels. After spending much of 2025 chopping back and forth between 1.85-1.9 million, the past two weeks have shot up to a new range around 1.95 million. If this comes back down we won’t make too much of it. But touching that 2 million level on longer-term jobless claims will have a psychological effect on markets — and perhaps the Fed as well.
Questions or comments about this article and/or author? Click here>>