US Stocks Pause, Alphabet Falls On Gemini Woes, Tesla, Bitcoin Rally: What's Driving Markets Monday?

Wall Street exhibited a subdued trend to start the week, with major indices showing little change in midday trading out of New York.

Investors anticipate a stream of critical economic data expected in the days ahead.

The S&P 500 saw a marginal downtick, slipping by 0.2% to 5,080 points, reflecting a market holding its breath for clearer signals. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 found some footing, inching up by 0.2%, bolstered by a notable performance from the semiconductor sector.

Small-cap stocks emerged as the standout segment, with the iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM surging by 0.3%. The performance of blue-chip stocks remained largely unchanged.

Yields on Treasury securities trended upward across various maturities as traders continued to scale back expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. Projections have been pared down to a mere 80 basis points of reductions for 2024, translating into just over three full rate cuts currently factored in.

The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT retreated by 0.7%, while the greenback held steady. The precious metals sector experienced a downturn, with gold declining by 0.3% and silver shedding 2% of its value.

Crude oil demonstrated resilience, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil climbing by 1.8% to $78 per barrel, almost recouping all the losses incurred last Friday.

In the cryptocurrency space, Bitcoin BTC/USD exhibited strength, accruing a 3.5% gain to surpass the $53,000 mark, signaling a robust start to the week for digital assets.

Monday’s Performance In Major Indices, ETFs

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.2% lower to $507.17, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA fell 0.1% to $391.08 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ inched 0.2% up to $437.56, according to Benzinga Pro data.

The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU, was the notable underperformer, down by 1.7%, while the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE was the top gainer, up 1.7%.

Wall Street Stock Movers On Monday

• Tesla Inc. TSLA surged by nearly 4% amid a broader EV rally, buoyed by positive investor sentiment following Li Auto Inc.’s LI stellar quarterly results. Peers such as Nio Inc. – ADR NIO, Rivian Automotive Inc. RIVN, and Lucid Group Inc. LCID also saw gains, rising 3.4%, 5.7%, and 2%, respectively.
• Crypto-related stocks Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. MARA, Coinbase Global Inc. COIN and Riot Platforms Inc. RIOT rose by 20%, 14% and 15%, respectively, as Bitcoin surged to $53,000.
• Palo Alto Networks Inc. PANW rose nearly 10%, marking the strongest performance among S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100.
• Alphabet Inc. GOOGL fell 4% after analysts warned about some Gemini AI tool inaccuracies over image generation.
• R1 RCM Inc. RCM rallied 28% as a group of majority shareholders considered taking the healthcare services provider private.
• Freshpet Inc. FRPT rose 17% following after the company announced better-than-expected results.
• Other companies reacting to earnings were Dominos Pizza Inc. DPZ, up over 5%; Fidelity National Information Services Inc. FIS, up 3%; Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. PPC, up 7%; Itron Inc. ITRI, up over 20% and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. PEG, down 1.9%.
• Companies reporting after the close are Workday Inc. WDAY, ONEOK Inc. OKE, Zoom Video Communications Inc. ZM and SBA Communications Corp. SBAC.

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