US stocks start the 2nd half of the year with early gains

US stocks are off to a positive start to start the new week, new month, new quarter, second half of 2024. The gains are led by the Dow Industrial Average average. The NASDAQ is the laggard.

A snapshot of the market currently shows:

• Dow Industrial Average average up 198.2 points or 0.51% at 39317.08
• S&P index up 15.81 points or 0.29% at 5476.30.
• NASDAQ index up 40.96 points or 0.23% at 17773.56

The small-cap Russell 2000 is up 4.15 points or 0.20% at 2051.84.

Roaring Kitty is at it again with a 6.6% stock purchase of Chewy – the pet company (makes sense I guess from a name standpoint). Shares of that company are up 5.21% at $28.80.

In other companies:

• Nvidia, -1.25%
• Meta Platforms -0.08%
• Amazon +0.34%
• Apple +1.21%
• Alphabet +0.83%
• Tesla was 3.42%

Greyscale bitcoin trust ETF is up 4.60% as it reacts to higher prices in Bitcoin (and perhaps political uncertainty given the shift to the right in France, UK and the US (at least the expectations)

The gains are being made despite higher yields in the US:

• 2 year yield 4.776%, +5.7 basis points
• 5-year yield 4.418%, plus a .8 basis points
• 10 year yield 4.445%, +10.4 basis points
• 30-year yield 4.607%, +10.05 basis points

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.