Stocks finished higher Monday, with the Nasdaq reaching a record close, as investors headed into the second half focused once again on Federal Reserve rate cut forecasts and the market-boosting power of big tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 50.66 points, or 0.13%, to close at 39,169.52, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.27% to finish at 5,475.09 and the Nasdaq added 0.83% to end at 17,879.30, a closing high for the tech-heavy index.
“The investment landscape has proved remarkably resilient thus far in 2024 given several headwinds including inflation, interest rates and the unsettled geopolitical situation,” John Lynch, chief investment officer for Comerica Wealth Management, said in the firm’s Mid-Year Market Outlook.
“Fortunately, employment remains solid, and companies continue to deliver improved profit growth," he said. "Optimism abounds over the potential benefits of Al, while the liquidity spigots remain wide open, providing support to consumers, businesses and risk assets.”
Updated at 1:26 PM EDT
Back and forth
Stocks are starting to turn higher again into the final hours of the trading day, after moving in and out of positive territory for much of the session, lead by a 0.6% advance for the tech-focused Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 was last seen 11 points, or 0.2% higher on the day with the Dow up 72 points.
The S&P 500 is 26% higher than where it was when the Fed started hiking rates in March 2022. $SPX
— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) July 1, 2024
Video: https://t.co/y0bKTZXONQ pic.twitter.com/BswMQOxW7p
Updated at 11:13 AM EDT
Bond moves
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields extended their recent run of gains in early trading, rising to a one-month high of 4.481% as traders look to both a key series of labor market data releases and a speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the ECB Forum on Central Banking tomorrow in Portugal.
Rates ripping higher today. 10 year yield closing in on 4.5%
— QE Infinity (@StealthQE4) July 1, 2024
I thought we were about to get rate cuts? 🙄 pic.twitter.com/1wiMDxEdGq
Updated at 10:43 AM EDT
Nvidia slip
Nvidia shares slipped lower in early trading, following on from their stellar second quarter advance that added more than $1 trillion in market value at its peak.
Morgan Stanley analysts lifted the AI chipmaker's price target in a note that details its likely boost from the release of its Blackwell system earlier this year and the ongoing demand from hyperscalers such as Meta Platforms (META) , Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) .
Nvidia shares were last marked 1.2% lower in early Monday trading to change hands at $122.06 each.
Related: Analyst resets Nvidia stock price target after trillion-dollar Q2
Updated at 10:11 AM EDT
No Cat bounce
Chewy.com (CHWY) shares were marked 3.3% lower in early trading despite an attempted boost from retail investor Keith Gill, otherwise known as 'Roaring Kitty', who unveiled a 6.6% stake in the online pet food group.
GameStop shares, meanwhile slumped 5.5% to $23.34 each after Gill received noticed of a class-action lawsuit alleging securities fraud tied to his return to social media and the stock's meteoric rise in early May.
BREAKING: Keith Gill aka Roaring Kitty aka DeepFuckingValue of $GME GameStop fame files a SEC 13G for $CHWY, Chewy for 9,001,000 shares, or 6.6% of the company.
— Pulte (@pulte) July 1, 2024
At the top of the filing, he checks the box saying he is not a cat. Seriously 🤣
Source: https://t.co/EDq1gN4UtT pic.twitter.com/HPT1mCxPhc
Updated at 9:43 AM EDT
Higher open
The S&P 500 was marked 13 points, or 0.24% higher, in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq up 24 points, or 0.13% and the Dow gaining 241 points.
S&P 500 Opening Bell Heatmap (Jul. 01, 2024)$SPY +0.25%🟩$QQQ +0.12%🟩$DJI +0.46%🟩$IWM +0.23%🟩 pic.twitter.com/FoPRaTmXP2
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) July 1, 2024
Updated at 8:20 AM EDT
Tesla deliveries on deck
Tesla shares are holding north of the $200 mark, having topped that level for the first time since March in late Friday dealing, as investors look to the group's second quarter delivery figures later in the week.
Tesla shares were marked 1.8% higher in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $201.42, a move that would still leave the stock down around 20% for the year.
Related: Analyst puts Tesla stock on key ideas list as Q2 deliveries loom
Stock Market Today
The S&P 500 ended the first half with a solid 14.5% gain, powered in large part by outsized advances for the so-called Magnificent 7 tech stocks and a 150% surge for AI-chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) .
Absent those two names, however, the benchmark would still have gained around 6%, a level firmly above the long-term average gain of 4.2% for the first six months of a trading year.
Investors are looking for largely the same kind of moves to kick off the third quarter as well. But first they'll focus this week on a series of labor-market-data releases that could add to bets that inflation pressures are easing into the summer, allowing the Fed to begin lowering its key borrowing rate in early autumn.
The Labor Department will publish data on May job openings on July 2, with payroll-processing group ADP releasing its National Employment Report on July 3. The main June nonfarm-payrolls report will be released on Friday, July 5.
At present, CME Group's FedWatch continues to peg the chances of a September rate cut at around 63%, with similar odds of a follow-on move before the end of the year.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields, however, are moving higher into the start of the week and were last pegged at 4.415%, with 2-year notes trading at 4.758%.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 0.23% lower at 105.622, thanks in part to a sharp move higher in the euro following Sunday's parliamentary elections in France.
Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which booked a 3.8% advance over the second quarter, are priced for a 4-point opening bell gain.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which actually declined 1.7% over the second quarter, is called 35 points higher while the Nasdaq is priced for a 5-point decline.
Stocks on the move include Boeing (BA) , which was last marked 1.2% lower in early trading at $179.80 after the planemaker unveiled an all-stock deal to buy Spirit AeroSystems (SPR) for $4.7 billion.
Tesla (TSLA) shares jumped 1.6% ahead of the group's second-quarter-delivery figures and a move by Wells Fargo to add the stock to its Tactical Ideas list.
More Wall Street Analysts:
- Analyst updates Oracle stock price target after earnings
- Analyst reboots Trade Desk stock price target after Netflix deal
- Analysts adjust Micron stock price target ahead of earnings
In overseas markets, France's CAC-40 was last marked 1.8% higher following the first round of elections, which showed big gains for the far right National Rally party but could deliver a hung parliament through tactical voting and political horse-trading in next week's final poll.
The regionwide Stoxx 600 was marked 0.5% higher in Frankfurt, with Britain's FTSE 100 gaining 0.3% in early London trading.
Overnight in Asia, the Nikkei 225 ended 0.12% higher on the session in Tokyo after a key economic outlook survey suggested renewed inflation pressures that could trigger a near-term rate hike from the Bank of Japan.
The regional MCSI ex-Japan benchmark, meanwhile, was marked 0.09% higher into the close of trading.
Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024
