Dow Jones futures rose modestly Friday morning, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures.
XThe Dow Jones, S&P 500 index and Nasdaq composite hit fresh highs Thursday, as the stock market rally continues to test limits. Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) joined Apple stock and Microsoft stock in boasting a $1 trillion market cap.
Meanwhile, rail giant CSX (CSX) reported mixed earnings late, with Kansas City Southern (KSU) misses on profit and sales early Friday. Comcast (CMCSA) detailed plans for its Peacock streaming service, with implications for streaming rivals Netflix (NFLX), Walt Disney (DIS), Amazon.com (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T).
CSX stock fell overnight but is up sharply in recent weeks. Kansas City Southern stock tumbled on its results after closing in buy range. Comcast stock edged higher after closing just below a buy point.
Apple stock is on IBD Leaderboard.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures were 0.2% above fair value. S&P 500 futures advanced 0.2%. Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.3%. Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn't necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
China GDP grew 6% in the fourth quarter vs. a year earlier, in line with views and matching Q3's 29-year low. December retail sales and industrial production were a little better than expected.
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Current Stock Market Rally
The current stock market rally continued to surge, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 index and Nasdaq composite all hitting new highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%, the S&P 500 index climbed 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite tacked on 1.1%. Apple and Microsoft (MSFT), members of all the three indexes, outperformed with gains of 1.25% and 1.8%, respectively.
Growth stocks fared well, as chips, software and medical products all did well. Among the best ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) rose 0.7%, hitting a 15-month best. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) rallied 1.2%, setting a new high. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) climbed 1.6% after a 1.5% loss Wednesday.
Stock Market Rally: Too Fast, Too Furious?
The Dow Jones today is running at the upper range of a trading channel, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq moving beyond their channel lines. The Nasdaq composite is now 6.6% above its 50-day moving average, the biggest gap in 10 months. Both of those indicators raise the risk of a pullback for the stock market rally, but it hasn't happened yet.
Investors shouldn't cash in their chips and walk away. The stock market rally's current pace may be unsustainable, but it could still run for some time. Consider paring some weaker holdings, reducing some margin exposure and possibly using hedges. Portfolio management has been a frequent topic on IBD Live.
Google Stock Has $1 Trillion Valuation
Apple stock has a $1.4 trillion market valuation with Microsoft stock at $1.27 billion. Only Saudi Aramco, which trades on the Saudi bourse, has a higher valuation. Apple stock is soaring as analysts see it as a strong 5G play, with 5G-ready iPhones due later this year. Microsoft stock has become a steady longtime winner again as it moves into cloud computing and becomes a serious rival to Amazon Web Services.
Google stock, a megacap S&P 500 and Nasdaq member, rose 0.8% to a fresh high, giving it a flat $1 trillion market cap. Revenue growth has slowly accelerated for the past two quarters, with analysts expecting Google earnings growth to accelerate in 2020 to 17% from an estimated 7% in 2019.
Google also is making a big cloud-computing play, though it lags Amazon and Google.
Amazon stock climbed 0.85% to 1,877.94. The e-commerce and cloud-computing giant is next in line with a $931.1 billion market cap. More important, Amazon stock now has a handle on its long consolidation, giving it a 1917.92 buy point.
But the relative strength line for Amazon stock is well off consolidation and record highs. Apple stock and Microsoft stock boast record RS lines, which track a stock's performance vs. the S&P 500 index. Google stock is nearly at those levels.
CSX Earnings
CSX earnings fell 2% to 99 cents per share, following four straight quarter of slowing growth. Revenue fell for a third straight quarter, down 8% to $2.885 billion. Analysts expected CSX earnings to sink to 97 cents a share, with revenue at $2.92 billion.
CSX stock fell 2.8% before the open. Shares rose 2.3% to 46.87 on Thursday, continuing the week's strong rebound from their 10-week and 40-week lines. CSX stock has an 80.33 buy point from a cup base.
Kansas City Southern earnings rose to $1.82 a share, but missed views by a penny. Revenue grew 5.1% to $729.5 million, also slightly missing.
Kansas City Southern stock fell 2.25% to 158 in morning trade. Shares rose 1.2% to 161.63 on Thursday, hitting a new high but still in range from a 157.08 buy point.
Comcast Details Peacock Streaming Service
NBCUniversal parent Comcast gave more details about its soon-to-launch Peacock streaming service. The Peacock streaming service will begin to launch in April with a free, $4.99 and $9.99 tier.
With few surprises from the Peacock event, Comcast stock ticked higher early Friday. Shares rose 1.3% to 46.87 on Thursday. Comcast has a 47.34 double-bottom buy point, Marketsmith analysis shows. While Comcast stock is back near record highs, the relative strength line is still well off its September peak.
Netflix stock, Apple stock, Disney stock and Amazon stock were slightly higher Friday morning, with Netflix, Amazon and Apple getting price target hikes.
Please follow Ed Carson on Twitter via @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.
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