Stocks Stall, Magnificent 7 Crack As Apple, Tesla And Google Face Headwinds; Bitcoin, Gold Eye Record Highs: What's Driving Markets Monday?

It’s a quiet start to the week on Wall Street, with major stock indices hovering around the flatline as of midday in New York. Investors are showing a continued preference for artificial intelligence winners while also actively seeking opportunities in small caps to catch up.

The Russell 2000 ETF, as monitored by the iShares Russell 2000 IWM, surged by 0.5%, outpacing the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow Jones indices. The benchmark for U.S. small-cap stocks has now soared to its highest level since April 2022, demonstrating a remarkable near-30% surge since late October 2023.

Nvidia Corp. NVDA continued its remarkable ascent, climbing 4.7% on Monday and extending its year-to-date gains to an impressive 74%. Yet signs of strain emerged within the so-called Magnificent Seven group as Apple Inc. AAPL, Alphabet Inc. GOOGL and Tesla Inc. TSLA fell by 2.9%, 3.3% and 6.9%, respectively.

The U.S. dollar was unchanged, while Treasury yields moved up ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell‘s two-day semiannual testimony to Congress, set to begin Wednesday.

In commodities, gold surged by 1.7%, surpassing $2,100 per ounce and now trading within just 1.4 percentage points of its all-time highs. Ooil experienced a 1% decline, with no significant developments emerging from OPEC+’s decision to maintain an extension of the 2.2-million-barrel-per-day cuts through the second quarter.

In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin BTC/USD surged past $67,000, marking a 6.5% increase and edging closer to the record high of $69,000 reached in November 2021.

Monday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was flat at $512.84, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA marginally eased 0.1% to $390.92 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ fell 0.2% to $444.85, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU, was the outperformer, up by 1%, while the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund XLC lagged behind, down 1.2%. 

Monday’s Stock Movers

• Macy’s Inc. M rose 15% after Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management raised the per-share offer to acquire Macy’s to $24 in cash, up from the previous $21 offer submitted earlier.
• Apple Inc. experienced a 3% decline, reaching its lowest levels since early November 2023, following the European Union’s issuance of a nearly $2-billion fine to the Cupertino-based company, as a result of allegations of Apple abusing its market position in the distribution of music streaming apps.
• Tesla Inc. fell 7% after weaker-than-expected EV sales in China.
• JetBlue Airways Corp. JBLU ended its $3.8-billion bid to acquire Spirit Airlines Inc. SAVE due to regulatory hurdles. The Justice Department blocked the deal in January over antitrust concerns. JetBlue will pay a $69-million termination fee to Spirit, settling all matters. JetBlue’s shares rose by 1.7%, while Spirit’s fell nearly 15%.
• New York Community Bancorp. NYCB plummeted over 15% following a decline of over 25% on Friday. This drop comes amidst executive replacements and the revelation of identified material weaknesses in the bank’s loan review process.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company HPE rose 10.4% amid strong bullish momentum following last week’s earnings report.

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