The Dow is on track to fall for a ninth-straight day and close below a key level for the first time since before the 2024 election.
The blue-chip index is down nearly 300 points, or 0.7%, to 43,4422. If it finishes the day below 43,453.84, it would mark its first close below its 50-day moving average since Nov. 4, 2024, according to Dow Jones Market Data. It would also mark its longest losing streak since Feb. 22, 1978.
The Dow has been dragged down especially by UnitedHealth Group, which has fallen nearly 22% in December. That decline has shaved more than 800 points off the Dow this month, alone. On the flip side, the Nasdaq Composite, down 0.5% today, just marked another record close yesterday as large technology stocks have lifted the broader market.
The S&P 500, down 0.5% today, has been holding up despite a historic stretch of negative breadth. Yesterday marked its 11th day in a row when a majority of its stocks closed lower, which is the longest such streak based on available data that goes back to Dec. 31, 1999, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Roughly 30% of the index was up today, which would extend that streak to 12 days.
Frank Cappelleri, founder of technical analysis firm CappThesis, points out that despite the 11-day streak of negative breadth, at least 20% of the index’s stock have risen for 39-straight trading days. That’s the longest such streak since a 45-day stretch that ended on Aug. 1.
“At some point, both breadth streaks will end,” Cappelleri writes. We’ll get a positive internals session soon and, most likely, a sub-20% day, too. That’s an easy one to predict. The important part will be whether the other sectors can support the market when the helium comes out of the current leadership names.”
Roughly 40.6% of S&P 500 stocks are above their 50-day moving averages, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That would be the lowest percentage since May 29.