Stocks rose Monday to start a big week of inflation data as investors bought up tech shares in the wake of recent weakness.
The Nasdaq Composite rallied by 1.14% to 13,917.89. The S&P 500 gained 0.67% to 4,487.46. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 87.13 points, or 0.25%, to 34,663.72, aided by a rise in Walt Disney shares.
Tesla shares jumped 10% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock and predicted a significant rally ahead because of breakthroughs with its autonomous software. Qualcomm shares rose nearly 4% after the semiconductor company said Monday it will supply Apple with 5G modems for smartphones through 2026.
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The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK), made up of the tech shares in the S&P 500, was down 1.5% in August and off by more than 1% this month. On Monday, however, the ETF was higher by about 0.5%. It's up nearly 40% on the year.
Elsewhere, Disney shares rose about 1.2% after CNBC's David Faber reported Monday, citing sources, the media conglomerate and Charter Communications have reached a deal to end their cable blackout fight.
Bullish sentiment Monday was helped by a report in The Wall Street Journal report on Sunday saying there was a consensus among the Federal Reserve not to raise rates at next week's meeting. The report also cited a policy shift in which members are seeing less urgency to add another rate hike later this year, as inflation data has been improving.
Money Report
"It certainly helps that the market's thinking that the Fed is probably done and maybe transitioning into a new strategy," said U.S. Bank's Rob Haworth, adding, "And that's giving them some hope that we're kind of past the toughest spots for corporate earnings."
Investors are looking forward to key inflation data in the week ahead after a string of stronger-than-expected economic data points last week had renewed worries that the Federal Reserve could raise rates more than previously expected.
Wednesday and Thursday bring the latest consumer price index and producer price index readings, respectively. Investors are hoping for low readings, although both are expected to jump due to energy cost pressures.
Apple will also hold its product event on Tuesday, dubbed "Wonderlust," during which the company is widely anticipated to unveil the iPhone 15.
Stocks close higher Monday
The major averages ended higher on Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 87.13 points, or 0.25%, to 34,663.72. The S&P 500 gained about 0.67% to 4,487.46.
Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied by 1.14% to 13,917.89.
— Sarah Min
CVS shares jump 4% after Wolfe Research sees good news ahead for Medicare Advantage contract
Wolfe Research said it is anticipating good news for one of CVS Health's large Medicare Advantage contracts for 2025. The plan may be able to retake its 4-star rating, analyst Justin Lake wrote in a note to clients. When the rating was lowered for 2024, it was a ding to the company's earnings, he said.
CVS shares surged more than 4% in late afternoon trading, following the firm's comments.
The Star ratings will be released in early October. CVS is scheduled to make an investor presentation on Tuesday morning at the Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare Conference.
—Christina Cheddar Berk, Michael Bloom
Dow set to finish Monday modestly higher
The Dow climbed 0.2% on Monday, helped by a group of member stocks up more than 1%.
Disney shares rose 1.4% after CNBC's David Faber reported Monday that the company reached a deal to end its blackout fight with Charter Communications, citing sources. Disney was the fourth best performer in the blue-chip average, behind 3M, Intel and Verizon, which were all up around 1.6%.
Less than a third of companies in the 30-stock index traded below flat, but their drops restricted gains for the average. Walgreens and Chevron were the two worst performing members, with both stocks trading more than 2% lower.
— Alex Harring
Higher yields may not hurt tech stocks, Goldman Sachs' trading desk says
Monday's trading action suggests higher yields may not weigh on tech stocks, according to Goldman Sachs' trading desk. On Monday afternoon, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was higher by 1.2%, even as the 10-year Treasury yield hovered near 4.3%.
"As investors become more comfortable with a higher rate environment, yields on 10-year Treasuries may not need to fall back into the 3's for longer duration assets to work," read a Monday note from the trading desk.
"Indeed, yields on 10-year Treasuries ranged between 4.5% and 7% back in the late-1990's in the years when the Nasdaq posted significant outsized gains (CPI inflation was also in a similar range as today, if not lower)," the note continued.
— Sarah Min
Stocks are higher into final hour of trading
The major averages were all solidly higher shortly into the final hour of trading Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 97 points, or 0.28%. The S&P 500 advanced by 0.66%, while the Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.15%.
Still, they were off their best levels of the day. Earlier in the session, the Dow was up by 207 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 had gained 0.75%. And the Nasdaq was nearly 1.19% higher.
— Sarah Min
Trivariate Research's Adam Parker says own energy stocks
Energy stocks are the place to be right now, according to Trivariate Research founder Adam Parker.
The sector has seen downward earnings revisions over the past six months, Parker wrote in a note Sunday. However, oil prices have risen off lows and Brent crude recently reached nine-month highs, he said.
"Few investors have commented on the fact that the energy sector has by far been the best performing GICS [Global Industry Classification Standard] in the last three months. We continue to recommend energy as our top pick," he said. GICS is an industry benchmark that breaks public companies down into 11 sectors.
However, Parker would avoid industrials because he said the sector is rolling over and earnings expectations are high. He said he's also "steadfastly negative on classic retailers."
— Michelle Fox
VIX volatility index briefly surged 3.5% Monday but couldn't hold above 14
The Cboe Volatility Index briefly climbed 3.5% in early trading Monday, rising as high as 14.33, before returning back to Friday's levels around 13.80.
Goldman Sachs' trading desk midday Monday noted that expected stock market volatility over the next 30 days, as measured by the VIX around 13.80, "is about 6 points below the 20.6 level implied by the growth and inflation environment. All this suggests that markets may be a bit complacent about the economy currently — especially as we head into October and the 3Q earnings season."
Late last week, DataTrek co-founder Nick Colas argued that expectations of future volatility may gather force due to lackluster corporate profits away from tech leaders, rising bond yields, the Fed's "higher for longer" rates messaging and declines in smallcap and international stocks in August.
— Scott Schnipper, Michael Bloom, Jeff Cox
Austerity, more rate hikes pose a threat to the economy, says Washington Center for Equitable Growth
Many of the worst-case scenarios for the economy many had anticipated for 2023 haven't materialized, according to the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. However, it still eyes two prominent risks to the economy ahead of Wednesday's August Consumer Price Index release.
"The first danger is austerity," said interim chief economist Jonathan Fisher. "While the unemployment rate is low and wages are growing, the financial cushion that many families have built since the pandemic is gone, in part because of the high inflation we experienced."
Fisher also expressed concern of further rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
"Now is the time to let the last year and a half of rate increases work their way through our economy. We've already seen the early signs that they are working. There is now a higher risk from increasing rates too much than the risk from not raising rates high enough," Fisher said.
— Hakyung Kim
Jamie Dimon says it’s a ‘huge mistake’ to think economy will boom
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Monday that while the U.S. economy is doing well, it would be a "huge mistake" to believe that it will last for years.
Healthy consumer balance sheets and rising wages are supporting the economy, but there are risks ahead, including central banks reining in their liquidity programs, the Ukraine war, and governments around the world "spending like drunken sailors," the executive said.
Dimon, head of the biggest U.S. bank by assets, was speaking at a financial conference in New York.
"To say the consumer is strong today, so we are going to have a booming environment for years is a huge mistake," he said.
Read the full report here.
— Hugh Son
Bitcoin falls under $25,000 for the first time since June
Bitcoin briefly fell under the key support level of $25,000 Monday as investors looked ahead to key inflation data due later in the week.
The flagship cryptocurrency fell as low as $24,976.10 at one point, according to Coin Metrics. It quickly recovered, however, and was last trading more than 2% lower on the day at $25,103.34.
Bitcoin has spent most of the year between $25,000 and $30,000 and continues to suffer from a dearth of liquidity and volume in the market. As a result, rallies back to the higher end of that range have been weak and failed to hold. In August, trading volume fell to its lowest in more than four years.
— Tanaya Macheel
Tesla shares gain momentum in midday trading
Tesla shares continued to gain momentum during midday trading following a big call from Morgan Stanley. Auto analyst Adam Jonas upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight, and forecasted more than 60% upside.
The electric vehicle name surged more than than 9% on Monday.
— Sarah Min
Walgreens Boots Alliance falls to levels not seen since 2009, and other S&P 500 fresh lows
Walgreens Boots Alliance on Monday was trading at lows not seen since March 2009. The pharmacy store chain dropped more than 1.2% during midday trading, making it the worst-performing name in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The 30-stock index was last higher by 72 points, or 0.2%.
Meanwhile, J.M. Smucker shares were at lows not seen since July 2022. The stock fell more than 6% after the jelly maker said it would buy Twinkies-maker Hostess Brands.
Here are some of the 11 S&P 500 names trading at fresh lows:
- Etsy trading at lows not seen since May 2020
- Pfizer trading at lows not seen since March 2021
- Northrop Grumman trading at lows not seen since March 2022
- SBA Communications trading at lows not seen since March 2020
— Sarah Min, Chris Hayes
Stocks making the biggest moves midday Monday
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Tesla — Shares of the electric vehicle maker jumped 9% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight. Analyst Adam Jones said the firm is on the verge of a major leap in autonomous driving.
J.M. Smucker, Hostess — Smucker lost 6.2% after it agreed to buy Twinkies-maker Hostess Brands for $34.25 a share in a cash and stock transaction, valued at approximately $5.6 billion. hares of Hostess popped 19%, reaching a new 52-week high.
Tenable Holdings — The exposure management solutions provider added 3.7% on the back of an upgrade to overweight from neutral by JPMorgan. The firm said the company should see improved fundamentals going forward.
The full list can be found here.
— Hakyung Kim
Regional banks gain momentum on Monday
Shares of regional banks rose ahead of the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference beginning on Monday. The KBW Nasdaq Bank Index rose 0.7% and the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF gained 0.2%.
State Street added 2.4%, while M&T Bank gained 3.5%. PNC was higher by about 1%. Other regional bank names, including Zions Bancorp, Fifth Third Bancorp and Regions Financial, were also higher during Monday's trading session.
— Pia Singh
Chip funds fall despite Qualcomm rally
Major semiconductor funds are struggling on Monday even as the Nasdaq Composite outperforms and Qualcomm rallies after announcing an extended supply relationship with Apple.
The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was down 1.1% in late morning trading. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) was down nearly 1%.
On the individual stock level, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and On Semiconductor were all under pressure.
— Jesse Pound
Disney, Charter ends cable blackout fight, sources say
The blackout fight between cable giant Charter Communications and Disney is over.
Hours ahead of "Monday Night Football," which airs on Disney's ESPN, the companies reached a deal that would allow millions of Charter cable customers to watch the game, CNBC's David Faber reported Monday, citing sources.
Charter and Disney's stocks, as well as media peers including Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global traded higher on Monday morning.
Read the full report here{=null}.
— Lillian Rizzo
Consumer discretionary stocks give S&P 500 upward momentum
Outperformance among consumer discretionary stocks in the S&P 500 helped the broad index take a leg higher in Monday morning trading.
The S&P 500 sector gained 1.9%, while the index as a whole rose 0.4%. It was the best performing sector of the 11 that make up the index, with materials and communication services following at 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively.
Just three of the 11 sectors traded down in Monday's session. Industrials and information technology each slid 0.2%, while energy shed 0.1%.
Tesla led the consumer discretionary sector higher with a gain of nearly 7%. PulteGroup and Amazon were the next best performers, with both up more than 2%.
— Alex Harring
Disney, Charter shares rise after David Faber says companies are nearing deal to end cable blackout
Charter Communications and Walt Disney shares gained more than 2% each during midday trading. Those moves come after CNBC's David Faber reported Monday, citing sources, the cable blackout fight between the two appears to be coming to an end.
Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global shares popped more than 5% each following the news. On the other hand, streaming television service FuboTV dropped nearly 6%.
— Lillian Rizzo, Sarah Min
RTX drops 6% as company takes $3 billion charge
RTX shares slumped more than 6% after the company said it will take a $3 billion hit to pretax results this quarter due to a recently disclosed engine manufacturing issue.
In July, the company first disclosed a flaw in some of its popular Pratt & Whitney engines powering many popular Airbus A320neo. RTX said the issue would result in hundreds of inspections ahead of schedule.
— Leslie Josephs, Samantha Subin
Deutsche Bank upgrades J&J spinoff Kenvue
Deutsche Bank says investors should eye oversold shares of Kenvue.
The firm upgraded the J&J spinoff to buy on Sunday, and noted the forecast upside could be gained as soon as three to six months.
"Ultimately, KVUE is a high-quality company (and now liquid stock, with membership in the S&P 500)," analyst Steve Powers said in the note. Shares are trading roughly 2% higher on Monday.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.
— Brian Evans
Stocks open higher Monday
Stocks opened higher to start the week Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 159 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 rose by 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite rallied by 0.8%.
— Sarah Min
Bank of America initiates coverage of Raymond James Financial with buy rating
Bank of America is optimistic that Raymond James Financial is better suited to navigate macroeconomic headwinds compared to peers.
The firm initiated coverage of Raymond James stock with a buy rating on Monday.
"RJF has one of the most diversified gross-profit driven business models under our coverage and is positioned well to handle future macro scenarios versus many of its interest-rate dependent peers," analyst Mark McLaughlin said.
Shares popped 5% in premarket trading.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.
— Brian Evans
Meta rises on report its developing new AI system
Shares of Meta Platforms rose about 1.4% before the bell following a Wall Street Journal report that the Facebook parent is working on a new AI system as competent as Microsoft-backed OpenAI's most advanced model.
Meta plans to make the system available next year as the company aims to ramp up development of generative AI tools, according to the report.
— Samantha Subin
These are the stocks moving before the bell: Hostess, Alibaba, Qualcomm and more
Here are Monday's biggest premarket movers:
- Tenable Holdings — The exposure management solutions provider rose 4% before the market opened following an upgrade to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan. The bank said the company is positioned to see better business fundamentals in the future.
- Alibaba — Shares lost 0.7% after outgoing CEO Daniel Zhang unexpectedly quit its cloud business. In June, the company had said Zhang was leaving as chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group to focus on the cloud intelligence unit.
- Tesla – The electric vehicle stock popped more than 6% before the bell after Morgan Stanley upgraded shares to overweight from equal weight, citing autonomous driving growth. The Wall Street firm called software and services revenue the "biggest value driver" for Tesla.
Read here for the full list of stocks on the move.
— Pia Singh
J.M. Smucker plunges 9% on news it will buy Hostess Brands for $5.6 billion
Food manufacturer J.M. Smucker dropped nearly 9% after announcing it will acquire Twinkies maker Hostess Brands for in a deal worth roughly $5.6 billion, or $34.25 per share, according to the company's press release Monday. Shares of Hostess popped 17.4%, meanwhile.
Hostess shareholders will receive $30 in cash and .03002 shares of Smucker's stock for each share of Hostess that they owned. Smucker has also agreed to assume Hostess's debt.
— Pia Singh
Baird says Block stock is oversold after website outages
Baird thinks investors were too quick to flee shares of Block last week after a website outage on Thursday and Friday.
The firm reiterated an outperform rating on the stock on Monday with a fresh bullish pick label.
"Historical breaches/outages generally haven't created long-term issues for large processors, as long as they were addressed/fixed," analyst David Koning said.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.
— Brian Evans
Qualcomm shares jump in premarket trading
Qualcomm shares jumped more than 7% in premarket trading after the semiconductor company said Monday it will supply Apple with 5G modems for smartphones through 2026.
Qualcomm currently supplies Apple with 5G modems for its iPhones. However, Apple has been working to build its own modems to move away from Qualcomm chips, including purchasing Intel's smartphone modem division in 2019.
Regardless, analysts have suggested that it will be challenging for Apple to move away from Qualcomm's chips because of their complexity.
— Kif Leswing, Sarah Min
Fed officials feeling less urgency for another rate hike, WSJ report says
Federal Reserve officials are growing less certain about the need for more interest rate hikes, marking a significant shift in their inflation-fighting policy, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The central bank's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee is still likely to pass on an increase at its meeting next week while indicating that one more move is likely before the end of the year.
However, as inflation data has improved, the willingness of committee members to do too much to fight inflation as opposed to too little is beginning to shift, the report states. In recent statements, a number of officials say the balance of risks has shifted and they are now feeling less urgency to tighten.
Market pricing points to a 44.6% chance of a final rate hike at the November meeting, according to CME Group data.
—Jeff Cox
Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas upgrades Tesla over autonomous driving leap
Morgan Stanley Adam Jonas and top auto analyst is convinced Tesla's autonomous driving supercomputer is the next catalyst for massive growth.
The analyst upgraded Tesla stock to overweight from equal weight in a Sunday note, and now forecasts more than 60% upside. Jonas says the company's supercomputer project, Dojo, could add as much as $500 billion in company value as Tesla continues its own vertical integration.
The bank also made Tesla one of its top picks.
Tesla stock is up nearly 6% in premarket trading.
PRO subscribers can read the full story on the call here.
— Brian Evans
China inflation rate returns to positive territory in August
China's consumer price index grew 0.1% in August from a year ago, marking the first time that the inflation rate was in positive territory since May.
The August figure was a reversal from the 0.3% fall in July, but still lower than the 0.2% growth expected by economists polled by Reuters.
Separately, the producer price index still fell 3% year on year, in line with expectations but a softer fall than the 4.4% recorded in July.
— Lim Hui Jie
Bank of Japan seeks 'quiet exit' from monetary easing: Yomiuri
Japan's central bank has now entered "a phase of reducing monetary easing," according to the country's Yomiuri newspaper.
In an interview with the newspaper, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the bank will seek a "quiet exit" from its ultra-dovish monetary policy.
Ueda also said the end of the year could be a possible time to assess the trend of wage increases, a key factor in setting price increases. Average summer bonuses at major companies recovered to over 900,000 yen (about $6,140) for the first time in three years, Yomiuri said.
Should individuals and firms in Japan come to anticipate a sustained rise in prices, growth expectations would also spur consumption and investment, which could lead to higher interest rates, the newspaper wrote.
— Lim Hui Jie
Alibaba shares tumble after Daniel Zhang unexpectedly quits cloud business
Shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba fell 3.5% on Monday, after the company said in a surprise move that outgoing CEO Daniel Zhang will step down as chairman and CEO of its cloud business.
The move comes months after Alibaba said in June that Zhang was departing as chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group to focus on the cloud intelligence unit.
Eddie Wu, who was set to take over from Zhang as CEO and director of Alibaba Group from September, will now also be chairman and CEO of the cloud business on an interim basis
Read the full story here.
— Lim Hui Jie
Stock futures open flat on Sunday night
Stock futures were little changed to begin trading Sunday evening.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 16 points, or 0.05%. S&P 500 futures were higher by 0.04% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.07%.
On Friday stocks finished a down week on a high note. The Dow gained 75.86 points, or 0.22%, to close at 34,576.59. The S&P rose 0.14% to 4,457.49. The Nasdaq Composite eked out a 0.09% gain and settled at 13,761.53. All three indexes posted a losing week, however.
— Tanaya Macheel