The US stock market is open for the week and has ticked up somewhat from Friday’s closing numbers. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 are tied neck and neck for gains with an increase of 0.32% for both of them.

The Dow Jones Industrial comes in third with an increase of just 0.18%. The Dow Jones has continued to lag behind the other two stock market indices throughout most of this year, and it has only managed to gain a total of 3.8% for all of 2024.

Half-year reports are rolling in for the stock market, as we break into July. We have seen record highs for the indices, with impressive gains despite a high interest rate. The desire for market trading is still incredibly high even though the economy is in a tight spot and inflation does not look to be decreasing by much.

The AI-focused Nvidia (NVDA) continues to impress, though it has settled down as June ended. The amazing gains we saw in early June have almost been completely lost now that July is starting, but Nvidia is still way up from where it was at the start of the year. There is reason to believe this stock will continue to climb as the year progresses and AI remains a hot tech niche.

Biosciences and tech stocks dominated the Nasdaq Composite this morning, with impressive gains from Complete Solaria, Senti Biosciences, and Datasea, Inc. Tech and pharmaceutical stocks continue to be major gainers across the market- a story we expect to play out similarly through the remainder of 2024.

Key Stocks to Watch

The Walt Disney (DSNY) stock could shoot up very soon, thanks to the raging success of the latest Disney/Pixar collaboration- Inside Out 2. The family friendly feature is the first movie of 2024 to pass the $1 billion-dollar mark. That has been a huge win for the company, since they have not had a billion-dollar film since Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022.

Microsoft (MSFT) and Walmart (WMT) stocks continue to tick along, gaining about 0.45% each this morning. These stocks have been very reliable this year and should continue to do well for the next half of the year. Microsoft has gone from $338 to $440 since the beginning of 2024, and Walmart has gone from $53 per share to $68 per share.