Stock market today: Nasdaq leads market slide, Bitcoin tumbles after new record

US stocks dropped on Tuesday, pulling further away from record highs as uncertainty over interest rate cuts and a shakeup in "Magnificent 7" stocks brought a note of wariness to the market.
Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led the declines, sinking about 2% as a retreat in Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA) continued to drag on stocks more widely.
Apple came under pressure after a report that iPhone sales fell 24% in China, adding to Monday's loss in the wake of a $2 billion EU antitrust fine. Tesla continued to slump as a shutdown at its Berlin Gigafactory added to concerns over a shipment slump and a Chinese price war.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell about 1.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved roughly 1.2% lower after a losing start to the week.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) reached a fresh all-time high, briefly surpassing its previous record of $68,789 from November 2021. However, the cryptocurrency experienced a sizable drop shortly after, plummeting 10% to trade just above $60,000 a coin.
The debate now is whether the tech gains behind the recent record-setting stock rally have reached their peak, as downbeat news saps the "FOMO" — fear of missing out — seen as keeping investors engaged.
At the same time, faith in coming easing by the Federal Reserve took a knock after comments by policymaker Raphael Bostic. The Atlanta Fed president said he sees just one rate cut this year, penciled in for the third quarter.
Investors are now even more focused on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's testimony to Congress on Wednesday. His words will be closely watched for any change in the mantra that policymakers need to be convinced inflation is conquered before any move.
In corporates, Target (TGT) earnings beat Wall Street forecasts, helping shares pop more than 10% in afternoon trading.
Live9 updatesTue, March 5, 2024 at 12:03 PM PSTAlexandra CanalDisney's Bob Iger on proxy battles: ‘Working really hard to not let this distract me’Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger is trying his best to not let ongoing proxy battles distract him."I am working really hard to not let this distract me because when I get distracted, everybody who works for me is distracted and that's not a good thing," Iger said at Morgan Stanley's media and telecom conference on Tuesday.The executive pointed to the complexities of running Disney's multi-faceted business as various segments like streaming face increased disruption."It's [a business] that takes not only a significant amount of knowledge, but a tremendous amount of time and focus," he said. "This campaign is in a way designed to distract us. ...Time and focus is necessary to generate what we need to generate for the shareholders."Iger's comments come after Trian published a 130-page white paper on Monday, blaming the board for Disney's underperformance and criticizing its members of lacking "focus, alignment and accountability."Disney has been grappling with challenges that include a declining linear TV business, slower growth in its parks business, and losses in streaming. Last year, activist investor Nelson Peltz from hedge fund Trian Fund Management renewed his push to shake up the company's board as the stock price hit multiyear lows.Peltz is currently seeking board seats for himself, along with former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo. Another investment firm, Blackwells Capital, supports the company's current board but has urged shareholders to vote for its three nominees as additions to it.If the proxy battle continues to a vote, a shareholder meeting set to take place on April 3 will ultimately determine the board's fate.Disney's stock has fought its way back from record-lows with shares up about 11% year over year. Since the start of 2024, shares have climbed about 25%, outpacing the S&P 500's 6% rise over that same time period.Tue, March 5, 2024 at 10:58 AM PST Josh SchaferStocks can still go up — even if Mag 7 fallsIt's a down day for the so-called "Magnificent 7" tech stocks. —Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Nvidia (NVDA) are all in the red on Tuesday.But as we highlighted about a month ago, history tells us stocks can still go up this year even if the "Magnificent 7" lose steam.Research from BMO Capital Markets chief investment strategist Brian Belski on Feb. 6 showed that even when the top stocks driving an outsized part of the market action fall off, returns over the next year for the index historically have been quite good.A chart from Belski shows that since 1992, on average, the S&P 500 has risen 14.3% in the year following a peak in contribution from the top 10 stocks in the benchmark average. The only time the S&P 500 delivered a negative return in the next year was in 2001 amid the fallout from the tech bubble."While some investors may be concerned that the market is likely to struggle without these stocks leading the way, our analysis shows that the S&P 500 has performed just fine following peaks in relative performance of the 10 largest stocks," Belski wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.Tue, March 5, 2024 at 10:08 AM PSTAlexandra CanalTrending tickers: SoFi, Target, Meta Here are some of the stocks leading Yahoo Finance's trending tickers page in afternoon trading on Tuesday:SoFi Technologies (SOFI): The stock plummeted around 13% after the company announced a new debt offering. SoFi said it plans to offer $750 million of convertible senior notes due in 2029. Part of the proceeds will pay for the cost of entering into capped call transactions, which are intended "to reduce the potential dilution to SoFi’s common stock upon any conversion of the notes and/or offset any potential cash payments."Target Corporation (TGT): Shares jumped about 13% after the retail giant posted an earnings beat on both the top and bottom lines. The company has preached its "roadmap for growth," which includes establishing Target as a growth company "from a comparable sales standpoint, from a traffic standpoint, and from a [market] share standpoint."Meta Platforms (META): Shares dipped just over 1% after the company experienced a wave of outages to its suite of social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.Crowdstrike (CRWD): Shares dropped roughly 7% ahead of the company's quarterly earnings, due after the bell on Tuesday. Prior to the results, Crowdstrike announced an expansion of its partnership with Dell Technologies, which will help customers "defend against increasingly complex cyberattacks.Tue, March 5, 2024 at 9:05 AM PSTAlexandra CanalNasdaq leads broader market declinesMarket losses escalated by early afternoon trading with the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) leading the broader declines. The tech-heavy index sank about 1.8% as a retreat in Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA) continued to drag on stocks more widely.Apple shares fell roughly 3% on a report that iPhone sales fell 24% in China. Tesla's stock declined 4.5% as a shutdown at its Berlin Gigafactory added to concerns over a shipment slump and a Chinese price war.The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell about 1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved roughly 0.8%.Tue, March 5, 2024 at 8:45 AM PSTInes FerréGold hits new highs on expectations of rate cuts, geopolitical tensionsBullion rose to new highs on Tuesday on expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates along with continuing geopolitical tension.Gold futures (GC=F) reached a high of $2,150.50 earlier on Tuesday after April contracts settled at a record $2126.30 per ounce in the prior session. On Tuesday Spot gold touched a record of $2,141.79 before retreating.The precious metal is considered a safe haven during times of uncertainty, usually moving up when the US dollar moves lower and interest rates decrease.Investors are expecting the Federal Reserve to start cut rates later this year.Gold has held up above the $2000 level over the past couple of months despite a higher for longer interest rate environment. Central banks have been buying up gold for their reserves at historic levels, helping drive up demand.Adjusted for inflation, gold hit a record in 1980 when it hit $850 per ounce, which would equal almost $3,200 in today's dollars.Tue, March 5, 2024 at 8:01 AM PSTAlexandra CanalBitcoin touches new record highBitcoin (BTC-USD) reached a fresh all-time high of $68,991 to briefly surpass its previous record of $68,789 from November 2021. It's since retreated to trade around $67,000 a coin.The run-up in prices comes amid US regulators' approval of spot bitcoin ETFs, which launched in January. According to Bloomberg, the ETFs generated more than $4.2 billion in net new flows in just one month.Prices of other cryptocurrencies like ethereum (ETH-USD) have also seen a boon amid the bitcoin surge. Ether prices have increased 66% since the start of the year to trade around $3,800 a coin.Tue, March 5, 2024 at 7:15 AM PSTBrian SozziThe macro setup and election seasonIt's a day likely to be full of Super Tuesday analysis from various market pundits and other experts.So why not join in the fun here at Yahoo Finance?A good note from one of my favorite economists, Michael Schumacher over at Wells Fargo, just crossed my inbox. I found it helpful to see how he is thinking through potential market moves months before the election, with a specific focus on fiscal and monetary policy.Schumacher's thoughts:Republican sweep"In our opinion, a Republican sweep is the scenario that would cause the biggest increase in the deficit and Treasury’s financing need after 2025. We expect easier fiscal policy under a Trump administration, especially if Republicans gain control of Congress. President Trump quite likely would want to extend, if not expand, his previous tax cuts. We expect this scenario to have the largest impact on Treasury term premium and the yield curve (e.g. 5s/30s). As we noted previously, the curve probably will steepen if Trump wins big over the next few weeks and a Republican sweep becomes increasingly likely."Democratic sweep"This scenario also seems quite likely to involve a larger deficit and steeper Treasury curve, but by a smaller margin than in a Republican sweep. Our economists say “Even if Democrats sweep on Election Day, we doubt they would allow the TCJA to completely expire as scheduled”. Tax rates could conceivably rise even more for top income earners. Furthermore, corporate income tax increases are also more likely in this scenario. Although some of the individual income tax provisions are likely to expire as planned we expect more meaningful spending packages to accompany the expiration of the tax cuts."Tue, March 5, 2024 at 6:32 AM PSTAlexandra CanalStocks pull further back from record highsUS stocks slipped on Tuesday, once again retreating from record highs.At the opening bell, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) slid 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved about 0.3% lower after a losing start to the week. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) sank roughly 0.8% amid continued drags from Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA).Tue, March 5, 2024 at 4:30 AM PSTBrian SozziIt's Super Tuesday, Target's CEO mentions the word electionSuper Tuesday is unlikely to move markets.Totally get it, besides there is a lot more happening this week in markets from wild moves in bitcoin to the slide in Tesla's (TSLA) stock.But at some point this year, what's shaping up to be a contentious US presidential election will move markets. That's why I am banking comments on the election from top leaders today in order to help guide investors through the murky waters months from now.Target (TGT) chairman and CEO Brian Cornell — who I last physically saw inside the White House a few months ago before a meeting with the Biden administration —didn't give me a lot on his macro views on Super Tuesday. He did give me just enough in a phone chat, however, to begin thinking how the consumer stock trade may act in the months before November.Here's what he told me:"We're watching [the election] like you are, really carefully. We've looked at past trends during election years. I think that it makes sure we bring that little bit of joy to the guests during uncertain times. Make sure we make Target a special place for them to shop, filled with relevant product and great value. But we know they're still going to consume, and we want to be a destination during what could be a very challenging and uncertain period of time."