The stock market's gains faded into the close Thursday, but leading stocks outperformed to give investors a refuge.
XThe Nasdaq climbed as much as 0.7% but closed with a 0.1% gain. Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq 100, did a little better, up 0.2% after Microsoft (MSFT) stood out.
The S&P 500 ended with a minuscule increase. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% after erasing a 0.5% increase. All three indexes met resistance as they approached the highs from a week ago. On that day, the market also closed low in the day's price range.
Small caps had been leading earlier but reversed lower. The Russell 2000 lost 0.3%. Volume fell on the NYSE and Nasdaq, according to early figures.
But it was a different story for the IBD 50, which easily beat the major indexes. The Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) rose 0.7%, thanks largely to the financials in the index.
StoneCo (STNE), discussed in Wednesday's IBD 50 Stocks To Watch, jumped above the 38.57 buy point of a cup base in high volume. But it closed below the buy point. Several real estate investment trusts were among the top IBD 50 stocks, too.
Other IBD 50 members rallying were SolarEdge (SEDG), which keeps rising from a pullback to the 50-day moving average, and Huya (HUYA), which broke out past the 26.48 buy point of a double-bottom base. Both stocks are in IBD Leaderboard.
With the broad market fading through the day, some breakouts Thursday had trouble staying afloat.
Microsoft topped the 141.77 buy point of a flat base but closed below the entry. Microsoft on Wednesday announced a $40 billion share buyback and a dividend increase.
Herman Miller's (MLHR) breakout on the furniture company's earnings report faded sharply. The stock closed below the 46.39 entry despite big volume.
But Teradyne (TER) held barely above its 58.71 buy point, although volume faded to below-average levels by the close.
Juan Carlos Arancibia is the Markets Editor of IBD and oversees our market coverage. Follow him at @IBD_jarancibia
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