{"id":60369,"date":"2026-03-31T07:09:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/dowjonestodaydow-jones-gains-on-quarter-end-rebalancing-and-software-strength\/60369\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T07:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:09:27","slug":"dowjonestodaydow-jones-gains-on-quarter-end-rebalancing-and-software-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/dowjonestodaydow-jones-gains-on-quarter-end-rebalancing-and-software-strength\/60369\/","title":{"rendered":"[DowJonesToday]Dow Jones Gains on Quarter-End Rebalancing and Software Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Dow Futures (YM=F)<\/strong> was up <strong>353.00 (0.77%)<\/strong> points today as the market entered the final trading session of the first quarter on <strong>Tuesday, March 31, 2026<\/strong>. The primary narrative driving the session was a significant <strong>quarter-end rebalancing<\/strong> act by institutional investors, coupled with a renewed appetite for <strong>enterprise software<\/strong> solutions. Market participants appeared to be rotating out of heavy industrial and semiconductor sectors that dominated earlier in the year, seeking refuge in <strong>consumer discretionary<\/strong> and <strong>financial services<\/strong> as they assessed the latest <strong>inflationary trends<\/strong> and <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong> policy signals.<\/p>\n<p>Leading the charge for the bulls, <strong>Salesforce (<a href=\"\/stock\/CRM\">CRM<\/a>)<\/strong> saw its stock price climb <strong>3.19%<\/strong> to <strong>$185.03<\/strong>, buoyed by strong demand for its <strong>AI-driven CRM tools<\/strong>. <strong>The Walt Disney Company (<a href=\"\/stock\/DIS\">DIS<\/a>)<\/strong> also performed exceptionally well, gaining <strong>1.72%<\/strong> to reach <strong>$94.32<\/strong>, while insurance giant <strong>The Travelers Companies (<a href=\"\/stock\/TRV\">TRV<\/a>)<\/strong> rose <strong>1.66%<\/strong> to <strong>$291.82<\/strong>. Other significant gainers included <strong>American Express (<a href=\"\/stock\/AXP\">AXP<\/a>)<\/strong>, which was up <strong>1.62%<\/strong> to <strong>$297.49<\/strong>, and <strong>Visa (<a href=\"\/stock\/V\">V<\/a>)<\/strong>, which increased <strong>1.36%<\/strong> to <strong>$299.54<\/strong>, reflecting sustained strength in <strong>consumer credit<\/strong> and transaction volumes.<\/p>\n<p>On the downside, <strong>Caterpillar (<a href=\"\/stock\/CAT\">CAT<\/a>)<\/strong> faced heavy selling pressure, falling <strong>4.35%<\/strong> to <strong>$667.43<\/strong> as concerns over global manufacturing demand weighed on the industrial sector. Tech hardware and networking also struggled, with <strong>Cisco Systems (<a href=\"\/stock\/CSCO\">CSCO<\/a>)<\/strong> dropping <strong>3.47%<\/strong> to <strong>$77.04<\/strong> and <strong>Nvidia (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>)<\/strong> declining <strong>2.39%<\/strong> to <strong>$165.17<\/strong>. Additionally, <strong>Merck &amp; Co. (<a href=\"\/stock\/MRK\">MRK<\/a>)<\/strong> was down <strong>1.45%<\/strong> and <strong>Apple (<a href=\"\/stock\/AAPL\">AAPL<\/a>)<\/strong> fell <strong>1.43%<\/strong> to <strong>$246.63<\/strong>. This divergence between <strong>software-led growth<\/strong> and <strong>hardware-led contraction<\/strong> defined the day&#39;s trading, as investors favored <strong>defensive staples<\/strong> like <strong>Procter &amp; Gamble (<a href=\"\/stock\/PG\">PG<\/a>)<\/strong>, which rose <strong>1.25%<\/strong>, and <strong>Coca-Cola (<a href=\"\/stock\/KO\">KO<\/a>)<\/strong>, which was up <strong>0.91%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dow Futures (YM=F) was up 353.00 (0.77%) points today as the market entered the final trading session of the first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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