Stocks Falter Ahead Of Data-Rich Week, Tesla Rallies On 'Robotaxi' Push, Bitcoin Reclaims $71,500: What's Driving Markets Monday?

It’s a lackluster trading session on Wall Street, with the main indices experiencing slight declines as traders adopt a cautious stance ahead of a data-heavy week.

The spotlight will be on Wednesday’s release of March inflation data, with consensus among economists anticipating another uptick in the annual inflation rate from 3.2% to 3.4%, potentially causing further turbulence in expectations regarding imminent Fed rate cuts. According to the CME Group Fed watch tool, there is currently nearly a 50-50 chance between a hold and a cut in June.

The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq 100 showed little movement at midday trading in New York, while small caps managed to inch higher.

In the bond market, Treasury yields continued to rise, with the 30-year yield surpassing 4.55%, on track to close at the highest level since late November 2023. Concurrently, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT weakened further.

Oil prices experienced a 1% decrease following a slight easing of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, prompted by Israel’s announcement of a partial troop withdrawal from Gaza.

Tesla Inc. TSLA was the top performer among mega-cap stocks, up 4.5%, buoyed by Elon Musk’s revelation of the launch of a ‘Robotaxi’ in August.

Bitcoin BTC/USD was the market’s brightest spot, with the largest cryptocurrency rallying over 3.5% to $71,700.

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Monday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.1% up to $519.07, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA was 0.1% higher to $389.25 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ was flat at $440.84, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

Sector-wise, the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY outperformed, up 1.1%, while the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund XLV was the laggard, down 0.3%.

Monday’s Stock Movers

• Shares of Apartment Income REIT Corp. AIRC rose 23%, after Blackstone Inc. BX announced to buy AIRC for $39.12 per share, a premium of 25% to Friday’s closing share price. 
• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. TSM rose 1.6% after the chipmaker disclosed that it will receive $6.6 billion in subsidies from the US Commerce Department to facilitate the expansion of facilities for advanced semiconductor production at its existing plants located near Phoenix, Arizona.
• Crypto-related stock Coinbase Global Inc. COIN rallied 6.9% outperforming industry peers like Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. MARA and Riot Platforms Inc. RIOT which remained flat for the day.

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