Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you a first look at tomorrow and last look at today. Sign up for free to receive it directly in your inbox. Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as the S & P 500 retreated from its record, and what’s on the radar for the next session. Reagan National Defense Forum CNBC TV’s Morgan Brennan will be live in California on Friday for this key conference at a crucial time for the industry. The iShares US Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA) is 3.3% from the high hit last month. The best performer in the last month is Archer Aviation , up 135% in that period. Rocket Lab USA has doubled in a month. Axon Enterprise , the Taser maker, is up 56% in a month. AeroVironment , Sturm Ruger and General Dynamics are at the bottom of the pile in the last month. Wahid Nawabi, CEO of AeroVironment, a company focused on drones, will be on CNBC TV with Brennan in the 5 p.m. hour Eastern. That stock is down about 25% in a month and is 30% from the 52-week high. AVAV YTD mountain AeroVironment in 2024 Volatility The numbers remain historically low. But in CNBC’s 1 p.m. hour on “The Exchange,” Kelly Evans spoke with one market veteran who said that’s likely to change. Jay Bowen of Bowen, Hanes & Co. told Evans on Thursday: “I think we’re going to see more volatility. More five to 10% pullbacks than we’ve seen.” Software to lead? Renaissance Macro’s Jeff deGraaf was on “Closing Bell” with Scott Wapner on Thursday, noting that “Nvidia’s chart is just OK to me. Microsoft is starting to break out.” We’ll watch Microsoft’s stock, which is 5.5% from the July high. It’s up 4.5% in four days. Microsoft is up 17% in 2024. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) is up 34% in 2024. It hit a new high this week. DeGraaf thinks software will be the tech leader into 2025, outperforming the chips. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) is up 42% year to date but 12% from the July high. SMH YTD mountain The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) in 2024 The new industrials For the second time this week, Kelly Evans profiled a guest recommending “industrial technology companies, disguised as regular industrials,” as described by Bowen. Bowen thinks there’s a new class of opportunity in names like Eaton , Corning , Teledyne and Parker Hannifin . He is the second guest on the show this week with that theme. The first was J. Dennis Jean-Jacques of Ocean Park Investments. Eaton is up about 10% in a month. The stock is 2.4% from the Nov. 26 high. Corning is up 5% in a month. It’s 2.5% from the Oct. 29 high. Teledyne is 3% from the November high, up about 11% in three months. Parker Hannifin is 2.5% from the Nov. 25 high, up 21% in three months. Talen Energy hit a new high Thursday before dropping 2.5% from that level. The stock is up about 18% in a month, and it’s added 54% in three months. Quanta Services is 4.3% from the Nov. 26 high. The stock is up 6.5% in a month and 33% in three months. Clean Harbors is 7.6% from the late October high. Cummins hit a new all-time high Thursday. The stock is up about 28% in three months and 58% in 2024. Dollar General CNBC stock man Tom Rotunno was monitoring the news around this stock Thursday. Dollar General missed earnings expectations and wound up being flat at the close. Inflation and the stock impact will be a big story for us Friday. Rotunno notes that Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said he’s seeing less customer traffic in the last week of the month as customers struggle to make ends meet. Vasos also said, “We continue to expect pressure.” Dollar General is also testing same-day delivery in dozens of stores. Dollar General and Dollar Tree are both more than 50% from their March highs. DG YTD mountain Dollar General in 2024 Amazon The stock hit a new all-time high on Thursday. Thanks to CNBC’s Chris Hayes for the stat and fact. Amazon is up 7.2% in a week and about 11% in a month. On the road We’ll keep watching Uber and Lyft on Friday. Both stocks took a hit Thursday: They each fell roughly 10%. Both are about 25% from their 52-week highs. The ride-sharing stocks dropped after Alphabet’s Waymo said it was moving into the Miami market, launching a robotaxi service in the city in 2026. There’s a lot of aggressive driving down there. We’ll see what happens.
What’s likely to move the market