[Economic] Dow Jones Reverses Lower After GDP, Jobless Claims; Tesla Surges On Earnings, Musk Comments

[Douma]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed lower Thursday after an early release of fourth-quarter GDP and first-time jobless claims. Meanwhile, Tesla stock surged as much as 11% on strong fourth-quarter earnings results and Chief Executive Elon Musk's subsequent comments.

The Commerce Department's fourth-quarter GDP slowed to 2.9% annualized growth, higher than the expected 2.7% growth vs. third-quarter growth of 3.2%. Further, the Labor Department's initial unemployment claims unexpectedly fell to 186,000. Claims were expected to rise to 202,000 vs. 190,000 in the previous week.

Fourth-quarter earnings season continues, as results have come in from American Airlines (AAL), IBM (IBM), Mastercard (MA), Mobileye Global (MBLY), ServiceNow (NOW) and Southwest Airlines (LUV).

American Airlines shares reversed 1% lower in morning trade, while Southwest stock declined nearly 4%. Dow Jones stock IBM beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter expectations, but shares fell more than 3.5% in early morning trade.

Shares of Mastercard rose less than 1% after its fourth-quarter report. Mobileye shares jumped more than 11% on strong fourth-quarter results. Finally, ServiceNow reported December-quarter earnings that topped views while revenue growth only met expectations. NOW stock rose almost 3% in morning trade.

Electric-vehicle leader Tesla rallied 7% on strong fourth-quarter results and a raft of analyst price target hikes. Dow Jones tech giants Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) were higher after today's stock market open.

IBD Leaderboard stock Axon Enterprise (AXON), recent IBD Stock Of The Day Etsy (ETSY), Monster Beverage (MNST) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) as well as Dow Jones names Chevron (CVX), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Visa (V) are among the top stocks to buy and watch, with the ongoing strength of the market rally.

Axon is an IBD Leaderboard stock. Etsy and Vertex were recent IBD Stocks Of The Day. Axon and JPMorgan were featured in this week's Stocks Near A Buy Zone column.

https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-fall-ahead-of-key-economic-data-tesla-stock-surges-on-earnings-musk-comments/