The Nasdaq hit at a record high on Monday as stocks ended mixed, while markets head into a key stretch of earnings reports, highlighted by Nvidia's first quarter earnings update and a host of Federal Reserve speakers.
The Nasdaq, which also reached an all-time intraday high, rose 0.65% to close at a record level at 16,794.87, while the S&P 500 gained 0.09% at 5,308.13 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 196.82 points, or 0.49%, at 39,806.77.
JPMorgan shares led the Dow's retreat after CEO Jamie Dimon said that he will likely be leaving his role as the financial services giant's top executive in less than five years.
Related: Jamie Dimon delivers startling message about inflation
Previously Dimon responded to questions about succession by saying that retirement was perpetually five years away, according to CNBC.
“The timetable isn’t five years, anymore,” Dimon said at the New York-based bank’s annual investor meeting.
Updated at 1:25 PM EDT
Microsoft's latest AI push
Microsoft (MSFT) shares jumped in early afternoon trading after the tech giant unveiled a new line of AI-focused personal computers at a corporate event in Redmond, Washington.
Related: Microsoft delivers an AI blow to Nvidia
CEO Satya Nadella called them "Copilot+" PCs, in reference to the tech group's AI assistant, adding the hardware itself will be made by partners including Dell Technologies DELL, Intel ITC and Advance Micro Devices AMD. Another Microsoft exec, Yusuf Medhi, predicted 50 million of the PCs would be sold over the next year.
Microsoft shares were last marked 1.2% higher in afternoon trading and changing hands at $425.16 each.
By @JCalNEO - Microsoft has announced that new Windows 11 PCs that have a dedicated AI processor inside will be labeled as "Copilot Plus PCs." Intel, AMD and Qualcomm will be making those chips. #CopilotPlusPC #Microsoft https://t.co/xVXCsiz9tR
— NeowinFeed (@NeowinFeed) May 20, 2024
Updated at 12:34 PM EDT
Greed wasn't good
Ivan Boesky, one of the most infamous names from the 1980s era on Wall Street, has died at the age of 87, his family confirmed Monday.
Boesky, who was the inspiration for the 'Gordon Gekko' character from the 1987 film "Wall Street" (which won Michael Douglas an academy award for Best Actor) pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in 1986.
Boesky paid a then-record $100 million fine, became a government informant and spent 18 months of a 3 year sentence at a Federal prison in California, where he lived upon his release in 1990.
Ivan Boesky has died at 87
— kristen shaughnessy (@kshaughnessy2) May 20, 2024
"An inspiration for the character Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s movie “Wall Street” and its sequel, Mr. Boesky made a fortune betting on stock tips, often passed to him illegally in exchange for suitcases of cash. His guilty plea to insider trading in… pic.twitter.com/u1IARtFWpi
Updated at 11:10 AM EDT
Fed-in-waiting
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson repeated the central bank's view that it's "too early" to determine if the soft April inflation report will provide the momentum needed to bring price pressures back to its 2% target.
Speaking at a Mortgage Bankers Association conference in New York, Jefferson said the softer-than-expected April reading, which showed headline CPI easing to 3.4%, is "encouraging" but added he's not ready to declare that "the recent slowdown in the disinflationary process will be long lasting."
The CME Group's FedWatch tool suggests no change in Fed rates over the next two meetings in June and July, but sees a 63% chance of a cut in September.
Speech by Vice Chair Jefferson on U.S. economic outlook and housing price dynamics: https://t.co/sN03npIzHt
— Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) May 20, 2024
Updated at 10:20 AM EDT
Tech record
The Nasdaq hit a fresh record high of 16,804.94 points earlier in the session, and was last marked 0.66% higher at 16,974.73 points, as the tech-focused benchmark extends its 2024 gain to around 12%.
Nasdaq Briefly Hits Record High, Last Up 0.7%
— DB News TradFi (@DBNewswire) May 20, 2024
Updated at 9:50 AM EDT
Edging up
The S&P 500 was marked 10 points, or 10 points, or 0.19% higher in the opening minutes of trading while the Nasdaq added 80 points, or 0.47%.
The Dow, meanwhile, was marked 82 points lower with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Home Depot (HD) leading the average's decliners.
Treasury yields are nudging higher, with 10-year notes up 2 basis points to 4.441% and 2-year notes rising to 4.837%.
S&P 500 Opening Bell Heatmap (May 20, 2024)$SPY +0.08% 🟩$QQQ +0.11% 🟩$DJI -0.03% 🟥$IWM +0.17% 🟩 pic.twitter.com/h5p9TIaHFF
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) May 20, 2024
Updated at 9:25 AM EDT
Nvidia on deck
Nvidia shares are set for another solid open, with premarket gains of around 1.2%, after three separate Wall Street analysts boosted their price targets on the AI chipmaker ahead of its first quarter earnings later this week.
Nvidia shares, which have risen 88% so far this year, are the best-performing on the S&P 500 over the past 10, 15 and 20 years, and second only to Super Micro Computers SMCI over the past five.
Related: Analysts race to revamp Nvidia price targets ahead of earnings
Updated at 8:34 AM EDT
JPMorgan boost
JPMorgan (JPM) shares bumped higher in early trading as the biggest U.S. bank boosted a key performance target ahead of its annual investor day in New York
JPMorgan said net interest income, the difference between what it pays out in deposits and takes in on investments, will likely rise to $91 billion this year, a $2 billion improvement from its early April forecast.
JPMorgan shares were marked 0.4% higher in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $205.52 each, a move that would extend the stock's year-to-date gain to around 20%.
$JPM CFO on NII outlook: "When I look at our internal outlook for the next 6 quarters, the sequential NII trajectory is a bit noisy, and I see instances of sequential increases followed by sequential declines. We'll have to see how it plays out. But given that, I would discourage… https://t.co/uRFrfHS6El
— The Transcript (@TheTranscript_) May 20, 2024
Updated at 8:17 AM EDT
That's Gold, Jerry ... Gold!
Gold prices hit a fresh all-time high of $2,449.89 per ounce in overnight trading, boosting the bullion's 2024 advance to around 19%, following last week's slowing inflation report that ramped-up bets for an Autumn Fed rate cut.
$XME $COPPER $GOLD $SILVER $NICKEL why are metals so important? because the correlation with US inflation is very high so when they rise they drag inflation along after a short time... in the last 20 years we see a very high correlation... will it change or continue?… pic.twitter.com/ncCb6VkBjX
— Stefano Bottaioli (@stebottaioli) May 20, 2024
Stock Market Today
Stocks ended firmly higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 nudging its monthly advance to 6.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing north of the 40,000 point mark, as easing inflation data and a robust first quarter earnings season continue to power global equity markets.
With around 93% of the S&P 500 reporting, collective first-quarter profits are expected to rise 7.6% from a year earlier to $468.9 billion, with the second-quarter growth rate improving to around 10.5%.
2024 earning sentiment soaring across all regions pic.twitter.com/Qlm4DK1gWo
— Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT 🍖 (@MikeZaccardi) May 20, 2024
Seventeen S&P 500 companies are expected to report first-quarter updates and near-term outlooks this week, including Nvidia (NVDA) , Target (TGT) , Lowe's (LOW) , Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and Nordstrom (JWN) .
Global oil prices were in focus in the overnight session following news of a helicopter crash in Iran on Sunday that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as well as the country's foreign minister, triggering major leadership succession issues in the Islamic state.
Related: Nvidia earnings will be crucial to stock market zeitgeist this week
Brent crude contracts for July delivery, the global pricing benchmark, were last seen 21 cents lower at $83.76 per barrel while WTI contracts for June fell 7 cents to $79.99 per barrel.
In the bond market, benchmark Treasury yields were holding steady in the overnight session as investors looked to a series of coupon bond auctions, as well as minutes of the Fed's May policy meeting, later in the week.
Benchmark 10-year note yields, which fell nearly 9 basis points last week following the softer-than-expected April inflation report, were last marked at 4.414% while 2-year notes held at 4.816%.
On Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which is up 11.18% for the year, are priced for a 10 point opening bell gain while the Dow is called 30 points higher.
The tech-focused Nasdaq, which is up 11.16% for the year, is priced for a modest 48 point bump.
Related: Analyst updates S&P 500 price target after CPI inflation surprise
Meme stocks GameStop (GME) and AMC Entertainment (AMC) were back on the move as the most active names in premarket trading, but their early gains were modest, 1.5% and 0.7% respectively, in comparison to their early surges last week.
More Wall Street Analysts:
- Analyst unveils new Nike price target ahead of big summer for sports
- Analysts weigh in on Google-parent Alphabet’s stock after cloud event
- Analysts revamp Disney stock price target after proxy fight
In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 was marked 0.17% higher in early Frankfurt trading, and just a few points shy from its all-time high, while Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.26% in London ahead of a key inflation release later in the week.
Overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 reclaimed the 39,000 point mark for the first time in over a month, thanks to a 0.73% gain to start the week, while the regionwide MSCI ex-Japan benchmark rose 0.3% into the close of trading.
Related: Single Best Trade: Wall Street veteran picks Palantir stock
