GameStop Shares Fall While Krispy Kreme Jumps

News McDonalds will sell Krispy Kreme donuts sent shares of the donut maker higher on Tuesday. ... [+] (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Key Takeaways

As we head into the last two days of a holiday shortened week, stocks are hoping to break a two-day losing streak. On Tuesday, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite dropped under 0.5%. Volume, as you might suspect, was light and I imagine it'll continue to lighten as we near Thursday.

There were a couple of important pieces of economic data released Tuesday, with Durable Goods orders up 1.4% month-over-month vs. expectations of 1.2%. Core CORE Durable Goods, which strips out more volatile food and energy products, were expected to increase 0.4% and came in slightly higher at 0.5% month-over-month. The most recent Conference Board's read on Consumer Confidence was also released, coming in slightly weaker than expected. The reading is interesting because, by all accounts, the economy is on solid footing. However, perceptions are all that really matter and that may go a long way in explaining why stocks continue to rally, because this very much feels like a rally no one cares about. What I mean by that is, despite the gains we're seeing, there really isn't that euphoria that often comes with market rallies. There's almost a sense of doubt. I think, because of that, the market rally has been largely ignored and could in fact continue.

There were several individual stocks making news on Tuesday, including Reddit, which gained 9% to close at $65.23. The initial public offering (IPO) for Reddit was just last week and thus far, it seems investors are showing an appetite for new issues to trade. On a tangentially related note, shares of GameStop GME , which gained fame on Reddit, are indicated to open lower by nearly 20% in premarket following earnings that missed expectations. The company also said they would not be hosting a conference call with analysts to discuss earnings. Shares of GameStop are down 11% this year.

Krispy Kreme shares jumped 39% on Tuesday after the company said McDonalds would begin selling the company's donuts domestically. International Paper IP stock was down over 5% on news the company would pay $7 billion for DS Smith. Johnson and Johnson is in talks to acquire medical device maker Shockwave Medical. News of the potential deal sent Shockwave shares higher by 10% on Tuesday and they're higher by another 1.5% overnight. Finally, following approval for their new drug designed treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, Winrevair, shares of Merck are higher in premarket by 4%.

The economic calendar is a bit light today; however, we do have a lot of data scheduled for release in the next two days. The most important report coming out, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, is due out on Friday. This is a unique situation where both futures and equity markets will be closed when arguably the most important piece of economic data is being released. That means investors who might react to the data will have to either anticipate and position themselves accordingly on Thursday or wait until Monday.

Tomorrow will also be the last trading day for both the month and first quarter. As things stand, stocks are on track to close higher for the fifth month in a row. The S&P 500 is currently more than 20% higher than where it closed back in October, the last month in which stocks were down. The Nasdaq Composite is up over 25% in that same period.

With the quarter set to wrap up this week, I thought I'd share some stocks that are performing best and some stocks that have lagged. According to Seeking Alpha, the top five stocks so far this year include Super Micro Computer SMCI , up 267%. Nvidia, which is up 92%. Constellation Energy CEG Corporation is higher by 60%. Meta Platforms and Decker's Outdoor Corporation close out the top five, up 41% and 40%, respectively.

The worst performing stocks include MarketAxess Holdings, down 25%. Charter Communications CHTR is down 25%, followed by Warner Bros. Discovery WBD shares which are lower by 26%. Rounding out the bottom five are Boeing BA , down 27% and Tesla TSLA , whose shares are off over 30%.

Heading into today, I'm keeping an eye on a few things. First, the Japanese Yen is trading at 34 year low. Japan's central bank said they may step in to stop the bleeding. In premarket, the Yen is up 0.2%. In China, President Xi met with business leaders, including Apple's AAPL Tim Cook, to discuss ways the country and companies can work together. Finally, as I mentioned above, this is an unusual week in that there will be no trading of any kind on Friday. Aside from the the economic data being released, it is also the end of the quarter and expiration for quarterly options. When you combine all that with the light volume we're seeing this week, we could be setting ourselves up for some choppy trading today and tomorrow. As always, I would stick with your investing plans and long term objectives.

tastytrade, Inc. commentary for educational purposes only. This content is not, nor is intended to be, trading or investment advice or a recommendation that any investment product or strategy is suitable for any person.