Ines Ferré
Stock market news today: Tech roars back as S&P 500, Nasdaq surge ahead of earnings
In this article:
US tech stocks ripped higher on Monday as investors assessed the political landscape following President Joe Biden's exit from the presidential race and braced for the start of megacap tech earnings.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained more than 1% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose roughly 1.6%, both coming off their worst weekly losses since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) increased 0.3%.
Chip heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA) led the broad-based tech rebound following heavy losses last week as investors rotated out of big cap names.
The moves Monday came after a huge shakeup in the race for president in the US. Democratic leaders continued to rally around Vice President Kamala Harris in the wake of Biden's exit, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi the latest big name to endorse Harris as the party's presidential nominee.
Still, the political shock could inject more volatility into an already battered stock market, distracting focus from this week's flood of earnings and key inflation release.
That could prompt a light unwinding of recent "Trump trade" bets on assets seen as benefiting from a second Trump presidency, such as bitcoin, bank stocks, and higher US bond yields. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury (^TNX) slipped on Monday.
Meanwhile, a stream of S&P 500 companies are expected to report this week including tech giant Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), EV maker Tesla (TSLA), and fast foods chain Chipotle (CMG).
Those results will give insight into the economy and the consumer ahead of Thursday's report on second quarter GDP and Friday's update on the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index.
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S&P 500, Nasdaq rally as tech stocks roar back, Nvidia gains more than 4%
Tech stocks ripped higher on Monday, sending the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) up almost 1.6 % while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose more than 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained 0.3%.
Tech stocks rose on Monday following sharp losses last week during a rotation out of big-cap names.
Chip heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA) rose more than 4.5% during the session while EV maker Tesla (TSLA) gained more than 5%. Tech giant Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) rose more than 2%. Tesla and Alphabet will report quarterly results on Tuesday after the closing bell.
On Monday investors assessed big political changes after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid on Sunday and subsequently endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the democratic presidential nominee.
Endorsements from prominent democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, started trickling in on Monday.
McDonald's to extend $5 meal deal until August, franchisees may get hit in the early innings
Yahoo Finance's Brooke DiPalma reports:
McDonald's $5 meal deal swept the internet, but franchisees may struggle from an extended run.
The promotion, originally limited to July, will be available all summer. Per a memo obtained by Yahoo Finance, 93% of all McDonald's restaurants voted yes to extend the $5 meal deal through August.
The company's US chief marketing officer, Tariq Hassan, said the deal successfully drove foot traffic back from competitors and boosted the brand's affordable image after several price hikes. Customers drawn in by the deal may try other pricier items too.
When the offering rolled out formally on June 25, foot traffic was down 0.8% that week year over year, per Placer.ai. Traffic was subsequently up 2.8% the week of July 1 and up 2.4% the week of July 8, compared to last year.
Read more here.
Tech stocks at session highs
Tech stocks hovered near session highs with less than one hour left of trading on Monday.
Chip heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA) gained more than 4.5% while Tesla (TSLA) shares rose more than 5%. The EV maker is set to post quarterly results on Tuesday after the closing bell.
Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) gained more than 2.5% during the session. The tech giant is also expected to report earnings on Tuesday after the market close.
The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rebounded more than 1.5% on Monday while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) also rose more than 1% after both major averages posted their sharpest weekly decline since April.
Tech shares led the gains on Monday, July 22, 2024 AMC shares soar after cinema chain announces debt restructure deal
Shares of AMC (AMC) soared on Monday after the cinema company announced a debt refinancing deal.
The agreement was announced during the trading session, sending the stock up as much as 12% before paring gains.
AMC said a series of refinancing transactions will allow it to extend the maturity of approximately $1.6 billion of the company's debt due 2026 to 2029 and 2030.
Homebuilder PulteGroup may see Q2 orders 'slightly below normal seasonality' due to high rates
Homebuilder PulteGroup (PHM) is set to report second quarter earnings on Tuesday morning.
Analysts at Bank of America warn that the quarterly results ending June 30 may show “orders slightly below normal seasonality” as higher rates during the period could have dampened the appetite to buy a home.
Higher rates have remained a headwind to the housing market. Mortgage rates have been stuck at or near 7% for the past year, which has consequently pushed buying activity for new homes to stay low.
Last quarter, Pulte increased net new orders by 14% year over year to 8,379 homes. Wall Street analysts expect new orders of 8,392 for Q2, per Bloomberg data.
Meanwhile, builders of single-family homes have slowed down construction as inventory of unsold properties has grown. Due to the macro environment, competitor DR Horton (DHI) reported lower quarterly orders than expected as higher rates affected first-time homebuyers.
Overall, Bank of America maintains a Buy rating on the stock and raised the price target from $135 to $138 as “it has one of the strongest return-on-equity outlook across our builder coverage with consistent track record of capital return.”
Trump wants to bring down energy prices. It won't be easy.
Former President Donald Trump has promised he will lower energy prices if he wins the presidential election in November.
"By slashing energy costs, we will in turn reduce the cost of transportation, manufacturing, and all household goods," said Trump last Thursday at the Republican National Convention.
"Drill, baby, drill," he added.
The problem is oil companies may not want to if prices drop too much, according to JPMorgan analysts. In fact, such a scenario could have the exact opposite effect as the one intended.
"We estimate the equilibrium price of WTI oil at around $70/bbl and believe that even at $60/bbl, prices are too low to incentivize production, potentially leading to a spike to $100/bbl in the following year," wrote Natasha Kaneva, JPMorgan's head of global commodities strategy, in a note released on June 17 that looked at the implications for commodities under a "Red Wave" outcome in November.
Matt Stephani, president at Cavanal Hill Investment Management, agrees that Trump's vow on energy prices may not materialize:
"I don’t think a Trump win would significantly impact US oil production or global oil prices," he recently told Yahoo Finance.
Prospects of Trump 2.0 have, however, impacted oil stocks. Energy equities have moved higher in recent weeks as investors rotated out of tech and Trump has risen in the polls.
On Monday, West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) hovered near $80 per barrel. Brent (BZ=F), the international benchmark price, exchanged hands just above $82 per barrel.
CrowdStrike shares continue to slide as analysts downgrade stock over IT outage fallout
Shares of Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD) continued to slide on Monday as analysts weighed in on the fallout of the IT outage that sent companies and government agencies across the globe into chaos on Friday.
Analysts at Guggenheim and Scotiabank downgraded the stock while other Wall Street firms lowered their price targets.
On Friday CrowdStrike said an error in one of its software updates for Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows knocked systems offline.
CrowdStrike dropped as much as 13% on Monday after falling roughly 11% on Friday.
One business world concern that is already a focus for Kamala Harris: AI
Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reports:
It’s not yet known exactly which economic policies of the Biden/Harris administration that Kamala Harris will be focused on if she becomes the Democratic nominee or wins in November.
But there is one business world concern that has clearly piqued her interest: artificial intelligence.
The current vice president has been called Joe Biden's "AI czar" and has been at the center of the White House approach to an issue likely to be a front-and-center worry for the next president — whether it's a Democrat like Harris or a Republican like Donald Trump.
When Biden signed a sweeping AI executive order last October, Vice President Harris helped shape the approach and was onstage looking on. That order launched a government-wide effort to ensure that AI systems are safe in the years ahead.
The Harris record on technology is set to be one of many things under close scrutiny in the coming days as the vice president has quickly emerged as the Democratic frontrunner after Biden ended his campaign on Sunday afternoon.
Read more here.
Crypto surges on political respect as Donald Trump courts bitcoin enthusiasts
Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith reports:
Crypto is surging again on a new wave of political respect as former President Donald Trump prepares to speak this week at a bitcoin conference in Nashville.
The price of bitcoin (BTC-USD) is up more than 13% over the past month and surged above $68,000 in the last 24 hours, putting the world’s largest cryptocurrency within striking distance of an all-time high set earlier this year.
This week, crypto investors are anticipating several reasons to get more hyped, including Securities and Exchange Commission approvals for big Wall Street money managers to issue exchange-traded funds that hold ether (ETH-USD), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency.
Read more here:
Tech regains lead as Nvidia, Tesla, Alphabet stocks rise
Tech stocks regained the market lead on Monday after last week's heavy sell-off of big-cap names in the Nasdaq (^IXIC) and S&P 500 (^GSPC).
The S&P 500 Technology ETF (XLK) gained more than 2%, reversing a recent rotation out of the sector.
Chip heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA) gained more than 4%, while EV giant Tesla (TSLA) rose more than 3%.
Social media platform Meta (META) also gained more than 2%. Tech giant Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) spiked more than 2%. Both Alphabet and Tesla are expected to report quarterly results on Tuesday after the market close.
Tech retakes market lead on Monday as stocks Nvidia, Tesla and Meta rise. Coca-Cola expected to see momentum continue in Q2 despite cautious consumers
Investors hope Coca-Cola (KO) will hold on to its momentum and deliver a bubbly quarter on Tuesday, Yahoo Finance's Brooke DiPalma reports.
Based on Bloomberg estimates, Wall Street expects to see revenue come in at $11.76 billion, down 1.75% compared with last year. Earnings per share are estimated to be $0.81, up 3.31% year over year.
That's compared with Q1, when Coca-Cola reported $11.3 billion in revenue, beating Wall Street estimates of $10.96 billion, while its earnings per share of $0.72 topped expectations of $0.70.
Price increases taken by the company are set to drive growth yet again this quarter, per CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson.
Read more here.
Nvidia rises 4% as chip stocks rebound
Chip stocks rebounded on Monday after a week of heavy losses in the semiconductor space.
AI heavyweight Nvidia's (NVDA) shares rose more than 4% in early trading after losing more than 8% last week.
Chip manufacturer ASML's (ASML) stock gained more than 3%. Semiconductor foundry TSMC (TSM) also rose.
The chip sector has seen steep losses recently as investors rotated out of tech stocks. Those declines were exacerbated last week as geopolitical headwinds for the semiconductor industry emerged.
Chip stocks rebounded on Monday Nasdaq opens higher after Biden pulls out of presidential race
The major averages opened higher on Monday as investors assessed the path of the presidential election after President Joe Biden exited the 2024 race.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose sharply, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) jumped 1% at the open after both indexes ended Friday with their worst weekly losses since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved up 0.1%.
On Sunday, Biden called off his reelection bid and backed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the democratic ticket.
Investors await a flood of earnings and a key PCE inflation release this week.
Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Tesla (TSLA), and Chipotle (CMG) are some of the companies reporting quarterly results this week.
Starbucks finds Elliott at its doorstep
Good to see Starbucks (SBUX) getting a wake-up call.
WSJ reported late Friday that Elliott Management took a stake in the struggling coffee seller.
In typical Starbucks form, they told Yahoo Finance that they "do not comment on rumor or speculation." However, Elliott is now involved here, based on my understanding of the situation.
I outlined 10 things wrong with Starbucks on X. Many of these are deeply rooted issues I have seen spread over the past decade, so Elliott, despite all of its power, is unlikely to fix them.
But Bernstein restaurant analyst Danilo Gargiulo sees a path to unlocking shareholder value at Starbucks.
Here they are:
Invest in top-level talent and leadership with operational and restaurant experience.
Reduce unit growth and expedite the transition to more purpose-built stores.
Reset the value perception.
Accelerate throughput and improve predictability of service times.
Enhance consumer experience.
Invest in purposeful innovation to attract core consumers and younger generations.
Reestablish neutrality of the brand on political stances (move HQ away from Seattle?).
Franchise China operations.
Optimize expenses.
Reset long-term guidance and market expectations.
Eyes on: Nvidia
Nvidia (NVDA) is catching a bid this morning, up 2% premarket on a bullish 30-day trading call by Citi.
Says Citi's Atif Malik:
"We are opening a positive catalyst watch on NVDA into SIGGRAPH 2024 conference for three reasons. First, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg will likely discuss the future of AI and we believe NVIDIA could announce the much-anticipated standalone Arm-Based Grace CPU for servers. Second, the CEO discussion should shed positive light on how NVIDIA’s end customers make money or their ROI profile, a key topic on investors’ minds these days. Third, we expect to hear accelerating AI demand trend at the conference with no signs of an air pocket and view the recent pullback in the stock (13% P/E discount to 3-year average) on geopolitical concerns as a buying opportunity."
SIGGRAPH kicks off on July 28. Huang is slated to perform two fireside chats.
One thing to watch in today's session following Biden's decision
Keep an eye on the "Trump Trade" following Biden's decision to not seek reelection.
Over the past month, stocks seen as tied to Trump's possible policies have risen nicely — for example, shares of Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) are up 5% in the past month. Lockheed Martin (LMT) is up 1.6%, outperforming the S&P 500 (^GSPC).
Here's the vibe on Trump Trade, according to BTIG's policy expert Isaac Boltansky:
"With a new Democratic presidential challenger expected, we could see a reversal in some market moves linked to the 'Trump Trade.' This is understandable as markets will be forced to reassess the odds of Trump winning without knowing his official challenger. Furthermore, we believe that Biden exiting leaves the House as more of a toss up than leaning Republican. With that being said, we continue to view Trump as the slight favorite and note that many beneficiaries of a second Trump administration are based on administrative shifts rather than legislative changes. These beneficiaries include private prisons, digital assets, and firms exposed to an uptick in M&A. Trump’s trade policy would likely be largely the same in a divided government scenario as well. We continue to expect a punt and extension of most of the $4.6T in expiring tax provisions, but as a general matter spending should be relatively easier in a divided government scenario."
