Markets News, Dec. 27, 2023: Stocks Finish Higher, Pushing Dow to New High; S&P 500 Still Just Shy of Record

Wednesday's Movers

Bicotech Company Cytokinetics Adds $3.7B in Market Cap

Cytokinetics Inc. (CYTK) reported positive results Wednesday from a key Phase 3 study of its experimental drug to treat heart disease, news that sent its stock price soaring.

The drug, Aficamten, treats symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, of HCM, a condition in which heart muscles thicken, become stiff, and can cause cardiac arrest. 

Aficamten is seen as a potential challenger to Bristol Myers Squibb Co.’s (BMY) Camzyos, which also treats HCM and was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year.

Bristol Myers Squibb has made headlines of its own over the past couple of days, spending $18.1 billion to purchase Karuna Therapeutics Inc. (KRTX) and RayzeBio Inc. (RYZB) to boost its neuroscience and oncological portfolios. 

Cytokinetics shares jumped 83% to finish Wednesday's session at $83.44, their highest level since 2004. The gain on Wednesday added about $3.7 billion to the company's market capitalization.

-Bill McColl

Indexes Ever So Close To Fresh All-Time Highs

The S&P 500 was just 22 points away from a record high in late afternoon trading, something it hasn't posted since early last year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high on December 19, and if it holds its current levels would set a new high today.

New York Times Up After Company Sues OpenAI, Microsoft

Shares of the The New York Times (NYT) moved higher following news that the publisher had sued OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) for copyright infringement.

The suit claims that the companies' ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot is trained on the newspaper's articles without permission. By training the chatbot on its content, ChatGPT is creating a competitor for The New York Times and stealing readers, according to the lawsuit.

NYT was up 3% at 47.49 in afternoon trading, nearing the high for the year that it set earlier this month. The stock has gained 44% so far this year.

-Taylor Tompkins

Gold Miner Shares Follow Gold Futures Higher

With gold futures rising more than 1%, shares of major mining companies were also getting a boost on Wednesday.

Among the movers, Newmont (NEM) was up 1.3%, Barrick Gold Corp. (GOLD) was up 1.6% and Gold Fields Limited (GFI) gained 2.1%.

Tesla Model Y To Get Revamp; Stock Leads S&P 500 Gainers

Tesla shares were up 2.2% in late-morning trading, leading S&P 500 movers, after a report that the electric vehicle maker is planning to revamp its most-popular model.

Bloomberg reported that Tesla is preparing to release a new version of its Model Y from its Shanghai factory. People familiar with the matter said that the company is preparing work on the updates in China now, with plans for mass production to start in the middle of next year.

The report came as Bloomberg also said China’s BYD is set to pass Tesla as the biggest-selling electric vehicle maker in the world, likely happening this quarter. Tesla's dominance of the U.S. EV market has slipped this year as new competitors, including both EV startups and legacy automakers, gain market share.

-Bill McColl

Crypto-Related Stocks Among the Top Gainers Wednesday

Cryptocurrency-focused stocks are among the big movers on Wednesday.

In mid-morning trading, shares of crypto mining company Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (MARA) were up 7.8%; mining and infrastructure company Riot Platforms Inc. (RIOT) gained 3%; virtual currency exchange Coinbase Global (COIN) added 6.2%; and MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR), a cloud services and mobile software company that has invested heavily in Bitcoin in recent years, was up 4%.

In 2023, these stocks have far outperformed the ‘Magnificent 7’ stocks that have helped power the broader market’s gains. Read our story about that from earlier this month here.

The cyrpto-related stocks tend to track movements in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which was up 1.2% to around $43,000 on Wednesday.

Optimism about the outlook for crypto has grown in recent months amid expectations that regulators could soon approve a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

AI is the Top Tech Investing Theme For 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) is our biggest tech investing theme for 2024, as was the case in 2023.

While the public became aware of the powers of generative AI in 2023, many of the real-world applications of the technology are still to come. According to iShares, 70% of executives expect to increase AI resourcing in 2024.

AI appears likely to advance at a faster speed than regulation, making it important for companies to self-regulate and use AI responsibly. Companies may create a host of new AI-related roles to monitor policy, ethics, legal, and other concerns.

AI-powered co-bots could emerge in 2024 and rapidly replace automated assistants like Siri and Alexa.

Read more here about the importance of AI as an investment theme. We have also taken a deep look at the impact of AI on economic productivity and on the outlook for regulation.

-Nathan Reiff

Stock Futures Flat

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were almost unchanged 45 minutes before the opening bell.

The same is true of S&P 500 futures. Both the S&P 500 and Dow are very close to record closing highs. The Dow has set records in recent weeks, but for the S&P 500, there hasn't been an all-time high set since January of last year.

Nasdaq futures were also little changed.