The S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.27%) fell 0.36% to 6,939.78 after briefly tagging a record intraday high, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.50%) slid 0.59% to 23,102.47 on tech softness, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 1.39%) edged up 0.10% to 50,188.15 for a fresh record close.
Market movers
While many big tech names slid today, cloud observability and security leader Datadog saw its shares spike 14% after reporting Q4 revenue growth of 29%. S&P Global was the biggest loser in the S&P 500, dropping 10% today after its guidance missed analysts’ expectations.
Elsewhere, S&P 500 component Costco and Dow member Walmart dipped 3% and 2% respectively, as December’s retail figures didn’t live up to Wall Street’s hopes. Despite Walmart’s decline today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a new record close, up 4.5% so far in 2026.
What this means for investors
The discrepancy between the three indexes’ results today continues to show the market’s slight shift back toward lower-risk stocks and away from higher-risk ones. For instance, over the last three years, Invesco’s S&P 500 High Beta ETF has tripled the returns of its S&P Low Volatility ETF. However, over the last month, the low-volatility ETF is up 5%, whereas the growth-stock ETF has remained largely flat.
It will be interesting to see whether this market rotation continues for an extended period or is just a blip before the AI and data center boom resumes its rise.
