Indexes Mixed Amid Economic Data; Cathie Wood Loads Up On AI Leader After Downgrade

The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to climb from its session lows in late trading, ending up 0.2% higher.

Nonfarm payroll data released on Friday revealed a weakening jobs market in August. Unemployment rates increased to 3.8%, as reported by Econoday. The economy saw the addition of 187,000 jobs in August, but payroll data for June and July were adjusted downwards.

Despite this, manufacturing activity in August exceeded expectations of 47, with the Purchasing Managers' Manufacturing Index reaching 47.9, albeit lower than July's 49. The Institute of Supply Management also surpassed the consensus of 46.8, coming in at 47.6. The qualitative measure of business activity indicated an improvement from July's 46.4, although a reading above 50 is necessary to signify expansion.

The S&P 500 dropped to the day's lows at midday and remained flat at 3 p.m. ET on Friday.

The Nasdaq reversed its morning gains and was down 0.2% at the hour.

Trading volume on both the NYSE and Nasdaq was higher compared to the same time on Thursday.

Both the small-cap Russell 2000 and the Innovator IBD 50 (FFTY) saw gains of 1%.

Crude oil prices jumped over 2%, trading at $85.66 a barrel.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note increased 8 basis points to 4.17%.

Dow Jones Stocks

Salesforce[ ticker symb=CRM] is in a cup base with a buy point at 238.22 after margins surpassed 30% during the second quarter for the first time. The stock remained almost flat on Friday afternoon.

Apple (AAPL) edged closer to a buy point of 198.23 amid speculation of price hikes when its new phone is released.

Stocks Moving Today

EV competitors to Tesla (TSLA) saw a rise after strong deliveries. Warren Buffett-backed Byd (BYDDF) increased after record sales in August. The EV manufacturer has set an ambitious goal of selling 3 million vehicles in 2023. Shares are attempting to reclaim their 50-day moving average. Li Auto (LI) and Xpeng (XPEV) trimmed some early gains but Nio (NIO) retained most of its gains at the hour.

Samsara (IOT) surged after reporting a profitable quarter. The maker of connected cloud-based applications for construction and other industries reliant on physical operations also reported its first quarterly profit. Shares broke out at 29.79 from a double-bottom base.

Among homebuilders, Toll Brothers (TOL) broke out of a flat base with a buy point of 83.72. The relative strength line is at a 52-week high, earning it an RS Line Blue Dot from MarketSmith. TOL stock was added to IBD SwingTrader on Friday.

Other breakouts included oil and gas exploration and production stock CNX Resources (CNX) and building materials stock Eagle Materials (EXP).

Enterprise software stock Nutanix (NTNX) jumped above a buy point of 33.73 after earnings. However, another software play, PagerDuty (PD), plunged after earnings and a forecast that suggested earnings of 13 cents to 14 cents per share for the third quarter. Research analysts at Baird downgraded the stock from outperform to neutral with a price target of 25, down from 32.

AI tailwinds boosted MongoDB (MDB) on Friday, but the stock trimmed most of the early gains in late trading after results. Sales grew 40% as earnings soared to 93 cents per share, reversing a 23-cent loss in the same quarter a year earlier. The database giant also cut its negative free cash flow nearly in half from the prior year.

Other earnings movers included Broadcom (AVGO) and VMware (VMW). AVGO fell to its 50-day line in the stock market today. VMW pulled back from just above its 170 buy point of a cup base. The stock is above its 50-day line and has retained its RS Line Blue Dot for now.

Cathie Wood Loads Up on AI Play

Beyond Dow Jones, AI play Palantir (PLTR) increased and neared its 50-day line. Late Thursday, Cathie Wood's Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) purchased 58,326 shares of the stock, while Ark Innovation (ARKK) acquired 525,292 shares and Ark Next Gen Internet (ARKW) bought 89,384 shares of PLTR. Palantir fell on Thursday after it received a downgrade from Morgan Stanley analysts to underweight from equal weight.