Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 touched new records on Monday, kicking off the shortened trading week as investors cheered President-elect Donald Trump's choice for Treasury secretary.
The blue-chip Dow traded 235 points, or 0.5%, higher, while the broad S&P 500 gained 0.1%. Both hit new all-time highs in the session. The Nasdaq Composite hovered near the flatline, weighed down by drops in some megacap technology names.
Investors cheered Trump's plan to nominate Key Square Group founder Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary. More than 3 out of 5 S&P 500 stocks traded higher in the session, and the small cap-focused Russell 2000 jumped more than 1.5%.
Investors viewed the pick favorably and see the hedge fund manager as someone who will be supportive of the equity market. They believe he may also help mitigate some of Trump's most extreme protectionist policies.
"I would recommend that tariffs be layered in gradually," Bessent said to CNBC in an interview earlier this month before he was picked. "If you take that price adjustment coupled with all the other disinflationary things President Trump is talking about, we're going to be at or below the 2% inflation target again."
Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar index pulled back following the Bessent pick late Friday. Indeed, the 10-year Treasury yield dropped more than 11 basis points in Monday's session. These moves, paired with Monday's equity market rally, show a "textbook" positive reaction to Trump's decision, according to Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial.
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"You can't ask for a better reception from the market," Krosby said. "This is the market applauding."
Money Report
Big technology, on the other hand, was more mixed. While Amazon and Alphabet took legs up, Nvidia and Netflix dropped.
Monday's action adds to the narrative coming off last week's gains that the postelection rally has once again picked up steam. After surging in the wake of the presidential race's conclusion, the ascent had taken a breather as worries about rising yields and the potential for inflation from Trump's policies took hold.
U.S. markets are dark Thursday due to the Thanksgiving holiday and close early on Friday, so trading volume is likely to be light this week. During the shortened trading week, the interest rate outlook is likely to be a focus.
Investors will monitor the release of October's personal consumption expenditure price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, on Wednesday. Minutes from the Fed's most recent policy meeting are also due out ahead of Thanksgiving.
Hims & Hers shares jump in reaction to Trump's FDA nominee
Dr. Martin Makary, the chief medical officer of telehealth company Sesame, was named Friday as President-elect Donald Trump's choice to head the Food and Drug Administration. The pick, which will need to be confirmed, may have sparked a rally in shares of Hims & Hers Health on Monday. The stock, which has more than tripled year to date, gained more than 13% in trading Monday.
Both Sesame and Hims & Hers have sold compounded versions of popular GLP-1 medications such as semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy, via a loophole that allows pharmacies to make compounded drugs that are in short supply.
"Having an FDA leader that currently works for a company that operates as a GLP-1 compounder is at a minimum, we think a positive incremental development for the future of the broader compounded GLP-1 opportunity," said Bank of America analyst Allen Lutz in a note to clients.
Lutz cautioned that it is unclear whether Makary will be confirmed or if the FDA would take a more positive view on GLP-1 compounding. However, he views the news as "incrementally positive," although Lutz reiterated his underperform rating on Hims & Hers Health stock.
The regulatory agency is currently weighing whether tirzepatide, which is used in Eli Lilly's Mounjaro obesity drug, is in shortage.
— Christina Cheddar Berk
Real estate stocks lead S&P 500 higher
Real estate stocks rallied Monday, lifting the respective S&P 500 sector 1.7% during morning trading.
The sector was the best performer in the index, led to the upside by a 4% gain in shares of Public Storage and CBRE Group. Extra Space Storage and Alexandria Real Estate Equities jumped more than 3% each.
Consumer discretionary was the second-best performing sector, led to the upside by a 7% pop in shares of D.R. Horton. Lennar, Aptiv and Best Buy each rallied more than 6%. Ulta Beauty added 5%.
— Samantha Subin
Goldman downgrades shares of Nio, says path to profitability is hindered
Nio may be due for some pullback heading into next year, according to Goldman Sachs.
U.S.-listed shares of the Chinese carmaker fell more than 1% in the premarket after analyst Tina Hou downgraded the stock to sell from neutral. The analyst cited tepid order momentum, slow production ramp-up and delivery volume and growing price competition as downside catalysts for the stock.
"We expect limited new model pipeline for the Nio brand and slow production ramp-up for Onvo, positioning the company unfavorably into 2025E, with potentially intensified competition starting in the first quarter of the year," Hou said. "In addition, as the company continues to expand the sales network of the Onvo brand, we expect growing S&M expense together with elevated R&D expense to drag down operating losses, hindering the company's path to profitability in the next three years."
The stock has had a rough year, posting year-to-date losses of more than 46%.
— Sean Conlon
Cassava Sciences craters 85% after stopping trials for Alzheimer's drug
Cassava Sciences shares cratered 85% after the company halted late-stage trials of simufilam, a Alzheimer's disease treatment. The drug failed to reduce the decline of cognitive function in patients in the study, who had mild or moderate Alzheimer's.
This is only the latest setback to plague the embattled company. Earlier this year, a neuroscientist formerly involved with the drug's development was accused of submitting false data in order to get funding for his research. The Securities and Exchange Commission also alledged two former executives made misleading claims about the company's clinical trial results in 2020.
Cassava said it will continue to review simufilam data and evaluate its next steps.
—Christina Cheddar Berk
Stocks open higher
Stocks were in the green as the holiday-shortened trading week kicked off Monday morning.
The Dow added about 350 points shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively.
— Alex Harring
Target is once again a top pick, Oppenheimer says
Target is once again a top pick after its recent pullback, according to Oppenheimer.
"We are adding TGT back to top pick status," Rupesh Parikh wrote Monday. "In mid-October around the $157 level (note here), we removed TGT from our top pick ranking driven in part by our apparel clearance inventory observations. With the reset out of the way, we see a very compelling risk/reward scenario developing."
The analyst said he expects the stock is at or near a bottom after its recent underperformance. Target shares plunged 21% this past Wednesday after the big-box retailer cut its forecast, and posted its worst quarterly earnings miss in two years. It's down more than 12% this year.
But the analyst's 12-18 month price target of $165 represents more than 30% upside from Friday's closing price, at $125.01. The stock rose by 1.5% in the premarket.
"Key attractions for us include in our view: 1) shares appear to be at/near a bottom; 2) negative investor sentiment; 3) achievable Q4 guidance; 4) a path to 6% operating margins remains in play; and 5) potential support from an attractive dividend yield," he wrote.
— Sarah Min
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket
Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading:
- Bath & Body Works — Shares popped 16% after third-quarter earnings edged out Wall Street forecasts. The retailer earned 49 cents per share, excluding items, on revenue of $1.61 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG had anticipated earnings of 47 cents a share and revenue of $1.58 billion.
- Robinhood — Shares of the brokerage firm rose more than 7% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight. The investment firm said Robinhood's revenue growth could be stronger postelection due to more active trading of stocks and crypto deregulation.
- Macy's — Shares of the retailer fell 3% after Macy's said it was delaying its official third-quarter results due to discovering that an employee had intentionally made incorrect accounting entries to hide delivery expenses. The errors took place over several years and amounted to between $132 million and $154 million. Macy's said the accounting issues do not appeared to have had an effect on the company's cash position.
Read the full list here.
— Brian Evans
Macy's stock dips after disclosing accounting issue, net sales decline
Shares of Macy's dropped 3% after the retailer said it was delaying the official release of its third-quarter results due to an accounting issue.
Macy's said it discovered an employee had intentionally made incorrect accounting entries to hide delivery expenses. This amounted to an error of between $132 million $154 million over the course of multiple years, though it did not impact the company's cash management, according to the press release.
Macy's said that it now plans to release its official results by Dec. 11, and that the employee is no longer with the company.
The retailer did release preliminary results for the third quarter, which showed net sales down 2.4% year over year.
— Jesse Pound
Bath & Body Works pops on earnings beat
Bath & Body Works shares surged more than 11% in Monday premarket trading after third-quarter earnings topped Wall Street expectations.
The fragrance-focused retailer reported 49 cents in earnings per share, excluding items, on revenue of $1.61 billion. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had forecast just 47 cents a share and $1.58 billion, respectively.
This report comes amid a tough year for the stock. Shares are down nearly 29% in 2024.
— Alex Harring
MicroStrategy surges after big price target hike
MicroStrategy shares popped 7% in the premarket after a big price target increase from Bernstein. The firm cited the company's huge Bitcoin holdings as a catalyst for the updated forecast.
"We believe, Bitcoin is in a structural bull market with conducive regulation and U.S government support, institutional adoption and favorable macro (low rates, inflation risk and record fiscal debt)," the firm said. "MSTR's debt is long term, unsecured convertible, implying negligible risk to balance sheet liquidity from Bitcoin volatility."
— Sean Conlon
European markets open in the green
European markets opened higher Monday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index adding around 0.5% shortly after trading began.
Sectors broadly traded higher as household goods and autos stocks led gains, both adding around 1.3%. Healthcare and retail stocks, meanwhile, were the only sectors to pull back, dipping by around 0.2% and 0.1% respectively.
Regional bourses were higher, with France's CAC 40 adding close to 1%, Germany's DAX rising 0.7% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbing 0.4%.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Australia notches record highs as Asia markets mostly rise
Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Monday, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 hitting fresh highs.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.28% to close at 8,417.6, hitting a new all-time closing high. The index also reached a new intraday high of 8,462.1 during the trading session.
On Monday, Singapore released its inflation figures for October. The country's headline inflation rate fell to 1.4%, the lowest rate of inflation since March 2021.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 1.3% up, ending at 38,780.14, while the broad-based Topix rose 0.71% to 2,715.6.
In contrast, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.3% in its last hour of trade, while mainland China's CSI 300 was down 0.46% to close at 3,848.09.
— Lim Hui Jie
Dollar index falls Sunday night
The dollar index declined 0.6% to 106.92 on Sunday. This marks a slight pullback from the index's 0.8% gain last week, during which it hit a one-year high.
The greenback also strengthened to its highest level since July against the yen last week. The dollar was last down 0.1% versus the yen at 154.17.
— Hakyung Kim
Stock futures open higher
U.S. stock futures started trading in the green Sunday night.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 150 points, or 0.4%. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 also gained 0.4% each.
— Hakyung Kim
