The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite rose on Monday to more than one-week highs, boosted by a rally in semiconductor stocks and a report that suggested the incoming Trump administration could adopt a less aggressive tariff stance than expected.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 25.57 points, or 0.06%, to 42,706.56, the S&P 500 rose 32.91 points, or 0.55%, to 5,975.38 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 243.3 points, or 1.24%, to 19,864.98.
Market Movers
Nvidia, the leading maker of AI chips, rose 3.4% to $149.43, extending Friday's gain of 4.5%, after Foxconn, a supplier to companies such as Nvidia and Apple, posted record revenue in the fourth quarter. ASML gained 7.6%, Advanced Micro Devices was up 3.3%, and Micron Technology rose 10%.
FuboTV soared 251% after the company announced it would be merging its sports streaming service with Walt Disney's Hulu + Live TV service.
Robotics stocks jumped. Guardforce AI rose 55%; Lifeward up 14%; Nauticus Robotics rose 28%; Serve Robotics rose 20%.
MicroStrategy rose11%. MicroStrategy said Monday it had acquired 1,070 Bitcoin for $101 million between Dec. 30 and 31, 2024, boosting its total holdings to 447,470 BTC, valued at around $44.3 billion at current market prices.
Super Micro Computer was up 9.4% after shares of the maker of artificial-intelligence servers jumped 11% on Friday, ending a five-session losing streak. The stock received a boost from an announcement by Microsoft that it planned to spend $80 billion in its current fiscal year ending in June to develop AI data centers.
Microsoft gained 1.1% after rising 1.1% on Friday following a blog post from Microsoft President Brad Smith announcing that the company would build out AI-enabled data centers that train models and run AI applications globally. More than half of the spending will be in the U.S., Smith said.
Shares of MicroStrategy rose 12% after the world's largest corporate holder of Bitcoin said it was targeting a capital raise of up to $2 billion from a perpetual preferred stock offering to continue to strengthen its balance sheet and acquire more of the world's largest cryptocurrency.
Arbe Robotics Ltd. shares were up 52% to $4.00 after the company said it was working on artificial-intelligence technology with Nvidia.
SolarEdge Technologies was up 6.6% after the solar power equipment maker said it would be laying off 400 global employees. It is the fourth time over the past 12 months that SolarEdge has announced staff cuts.
Plug Power closed 13% higher on Friday. It was up an additional 20% on Monday after the Treasury Department issued new rules that would allow clean hydrogen companies to qualify for tax breaks if they capture and store carbon from their hydrogen production, or if they use clean electricity to make it. Bloom Energy, which rose 4.1% on Friday, gained 4.8% on Monday.
VeriSign rose 2.5% after Berkshire Hathaway bought about $4 million more stock of the internet domain-name registry company. The small recent buys of about 20,000 shares were made at an average price of nearly $205 a share, according to a regulatory filing. Berkshire Hathaway now owns 13.3 million shares of VeriSign, a roughly 14% stake worth about $2.7 billion.
Palantir Technologies declined 5% to $75.92. Morgan Stanley analyst Sanjit Singh assumed coverage of the stock with an Underweight rating and set a price target of $60, implying about 20% downside. "While acknowledging strong execution and momentum, we see success more than priced in at the current multiple premium," Singh wrote in a research note, adding that "business momentum now seems to be stabilizing."
Market News
Trump Denies Report That His Team Is Eyeing Pared-Back Tariffs
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Monday denied a newspaper report that said his aides were exploring tariff plans that would only cover critical imports, deepening uncertainty among business leaders about future U.S. trade policies.
Trump responded on his Truth Social platform after the Washington Post cited three sources familiar with the matter as saying that Trump aides were exploring a narrower approach to tariffs, focused on certain critical sectors.
