Dow Hits 50,600 as Oil Plunges Below $90: A Tale of Two Markets
MarketDash
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a fresh all-time high above 50,600, while the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.7% as chip stocks retreated. Oil sank nearly 4% after conflicting headlines on an Iran deal, sending travel stocks soaring and energy stocks tumbling.
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Wall Street had a split personality Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average punched to a fresh all-time high above 50,600, while the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.7% to 29,801, pressured by chip producers and AI hyperscalers retreating from record highs. The S&P 500 edged 0.2% lower to 7,508 after brushing a record peak earlier in the session.
The big story of the day was oil. Iranian state media reportedly announced a draft framework to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, only for the White House to deny the document. Speaking from his Cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump tempered ceasefire optimism, telling reporters, "We're not there yet on an Iran deal." That dynamic was enough to send crude prices and long-end Treasury yields lower while equity markets fractured along sector lines.
WTI crude oil tumbled 3.9% to $90.26 per barrel, and Brent crude slid 3.6% to $95.99, both extending a multi-week decline as traders price out the most bullish scenarios for a prolonged Persian Gulf shock. The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note held near a two-week low at 4.49%, well off the 16-month high of 4.7% touched on May 20, as the energy slide eased inflation pressure.
The travel-leisure trade was the cleanest story of the tape: the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) jumped 3.2% as the oil drop boosted carrier margins. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) climbed 1.5% on the back of strong retail earnings prints.
MGM Resorts International (MGM) surged nearly 11% after JPMorgan upgraded the casino operator to Overweight from Neutral. Truist piled on with a bullish call, citing a "Strip inflection."
AppLovin Corp (APP) jumped 10.2% after an Edgewater note flagged that Meta Platforms is unlikely to bid on non-IDFA iOS traffic in the near term, removing a competitive overhang ahead of the June launch of the company's self-serve AXON ad platform.
Bath & Body Works Inc. (BBWI) popped 8.7% after the retailer posted first-quarter adjusted EPS of 32 cents versus the $29 cents consensus on revenue of $1.4 billion (versus $1.36 billion expected) and reaffirmed full-year guidance.
On the downside, Zscaler Inc. (ZS) collapsed 31% after the cybersecurity firm guided current-quarter revenue below Wall Street expectations on its Tuesday post-close report.
Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) sank 11.7% after management cut full-year organic growth guidance to a 6.5%-8% range at a Bernstein conference.
Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) dropped 8.1% with no fresh company-specific news on the tape, with the move consistent with profit-taking across the chip cohort.
