Stocks @ Night: Big Tech Bounces And Utilities Languish - Free Websites, Share News And Posts Publicly

MON, OCT 02, 2023

Utilities ETF suffers worst day since 2020

The Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU) today hit its lowest point since June 2020 and its worst session since April 2020. The worst performer was NextEra Energy, which was down 9% today and is off by more than 20% in just the past week. Goldman Sachs analysts reiterated their buy rating but cut the price target. They also noted headwinds like higher rates and the cost of capital on renewables. AES, NiSource, PG&E, Dominion and Evergy were also among the biggest losers, all finishing the day down over 5%.

Solar stocks go dark, and other alt energy names slide

Speaking of renewables, several alternative energy stocks were also slammed. SolarEdge fell 5% after Barclays downgraded the stock to equal weight, saying it and Enphase could face price cuts, market share losses, and weakness in Europe heading into 2024. Sunrun fell 10% as Susquehanna cut its price target but reiterated its positive rating. Outside of solar, there was weakness in fuel cell names Plug Power, Bloom Energy and Ballard Power. Lithium players Sigma Lithium, SQM and Albemarle were also down 4% or more.

Discover’s best day since November 2022

But there were bright spots, like Discover Financial. It had its best day since last November after promising to improve consumer compliance as part of a consent decree with the FDIC. The company said in July that it had received the order and disclosed an unrelated credit card classification error at the same time. Shares are still down over 20% since then.

Diabetes device manufacturers rise

Insulet, Dexcom and Tandem Diabetes Care all finished higher. These and other manufacturers of diabetes devices, like glucose monitors and insulin pumps, have been hit hard this year on fears of growing competition from the wave of weight loss medications. Jefferies says some of those fears are overblown and it expects only “a modest drag or no drag” on insulin pumps and glucose monitors “unimpaired or helped” by the drugs. The firm reiterated its buy rating on Dexcom and Tandem, while upgrading Insulet to buy. Dexcom is still down 17% this year. Insulet is down 44%, and Tandem is off by 51%.

Big Tech’s bounce to start October

Big Tech had a great day, with Nvidia, Alphabet and Meta all gaining more than 2%. Apple, Microsoft and Amazon were up around 1.5% or more. All of those stocks have outperformed the S&P 500 year to date. Alphabet is around 3.5% off its mid-September 52-week high, while Meta is around 6% from its July high.

Select retails pop

Several retailers also held up well throughout the day. Wayfair gained 3% and Foot Locker gained 5.6%. Both are still negative in the past month. Abercrombie & Fitch rose 3% today to hit its highest level since November 2011. If it posts another gain tomorrow, it’ll be the stock’s longest win streak since 2020.