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Another record high for stocks as tech heavyweights put market on their shoulders

All of the gains on Monday are attributable to Nvidia and Apple.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 set fresh record closing highs to kick off the week, up 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively, while the Russell 2000 outperformed with a 0.6% advance.

While indexes are making new highs, breadth is not. Over the past 15 trading days, the S&P 500 has moved higher despite more of its constituents falling than rising on seven occasions, including today. That’s tied for the highest frequency of the US benchmark index and its components diverging over a three-week span on record, based on data going back through 1997.

Tech and utilities were the only two S&P 500 sector ETFs to go positive on the day. Consumer staples was far and away the worst performer.

Gains on the day were led by Teradyne, which jumped nearly 13% after the semiconductor test equipment maker got a price target hike from Susquehanna to $200 from $133. Declines were led by Kenvue, which fell 7.5% following reports that President Donald Trump would soon announce a link between prenatal use of Tylenol and autism. Elsewhere…

Nvidia surged nearly 4% as the company said it would invest as much as $100 billion into OpenAI as part of an unprecedented data center buildout.

Apple was up more than 4% after Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives raised his price target on the tech giant to $310 from $270 thanks to “early strong demand signs” for the iPhone 17.

Of the 46 basis points in total return for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF on Monday, Nvidia and Apple contributed 58 basis points, as most other components went down.

Oracle leapt over 6% after the hyperscaler announced that its CEO for the past 11 years, Safra Catz, is stepping down and being replaced by two new co-CEOs.

Snap soared 4.3% as the stock receives a lot of positive attention from the r/WallStreetBets subreddit.

Oklo jumped almost 4% after Ives boosted his price target on the stock to a whopping $150 from $80 on Sunday.

Pfizer ended virtually flat after the vaccine maker announced that it would acquire anti-obesity drug developer Metsera. Metsera soared over 60% on the news.

Moderna rose more than 5% after a federal vaccine panel adopted a recommendation for the COVID-19 vaccine that was better than investors were pricing in.

Fox rose after Trump said that Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, the chief executive of Fox, are “probably” going to be involved in the investor group looking to buy TikTok in the US.

Shares of Better Home & Finance spiked nearly 47% after EMJ Capital founder Eric Jackson posted on X, dubbing the online mortgage lender the “Shopify of mortgages.”

BYD was marginally positive even as Berkshire Hathaway fully exited its stake in the world’s largest EV maker, according to a CNBC report over the weekend.

Max Knoblauch10h

Chinese EV maker Nio sinks as a surge of orders for its new SUV create a 6-month backlog

Shares of Nio are falling Monday on the bittersweet news that its latest SUV (the ES8, priced to compete with Tesla’s Model Y) is too popular.

According to Chinese media reports, up to 50,000 ES8 orders may have been placed in the vehicle’s first 36 hours, surpassing Nio’s 40,000-vehicle production cap for this year.

Customers now ordering the ES8 won’t receive their vehicle for 24 to 26 weeks, or six months.

Nio CEO William Li said that the ES8’s production capacity will reach 15,000 units by December.

Nio Says ES8 Orders Placed Today Face 6-Month Wait

Customers now ordering the ES8 won’t receive their vehicle for 24 to 26 weeks, or six months.

Nio CEO William Li said that the ES8’s production capacity will reach 15,000 units by December.

Jon Keegan, Nate Becker

11h

Nvidia jumps on plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as part of data center expansion

Shares of Nvidia vaulted on the news, as CEO Jensen Huang says the new project would involve 4 million to 5 million GPUs.

J. Edward Moreno

11h

Moderna rises after RFK Jr. vaccine panel’s less-draconian-than-expected Covid recommendation

While ACIP’s vote means less people may be able to access Moderna’s vaccine than before, it’s less severe than the outright ban some were expecting.

Matt Phillips11h

US toys with making the world’s worst investment

Argentinian government bonds are up big today on reports that the US is considering some sort of a bailout for the chronically messy Latin American economy currently led by Trump-allied right-wing populist Javier Millei.

The country’s foreign minister knocked down previous reports that Argentina was negotiating a $30 billion loan with the US.

But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just came out saying that “all options” are being considered to stabilize the country’s currency, which plunged as Millei’s attempt to radically remake the economy with deep spending and tax cuts has shown signs of sputtering amid a series of government corruption scandals. Bessent even went so far as to say Argentina is a “systemically important” US ally, using a term of art that’s often bandied about when bailouts are in the offing.

For the record, lending Argentina US taxpayer money seems a bad idea.

The country has defaulted on foreign loans nine times, giving it one of the world’s worst credit histories. In fact, it’s defaulted three times since 2000, including in 2019, after the last attempt to “reform” the country lured in foreign lenders once again.

Bessent Says ‘All Options’ on Table to Steady Milei’s Argentina

For the record, lending Argentina US taxpayer money seems a bad idea.

Max Knoblauch13h

BYD dips following report that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire dumped its entire stake after 17 years

Berkshire Hathaway has fully exited its stake in the world’s largest EV maker, BYD, sending shares of the Chinese auto giant down on Monday.

A CNBC report over the weekend highlighted the change, which was disclosed back in March in a quarterly filing by subsidiary Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Berkshire confirmed that it sold its full position.

Buffett’s fund first invested in BYD in 2008 at the urging of then Vice Chair Charlie Munger, who died in 2023. Berkshire acquired nearly 10% of the company for $232 million at the time.

Berkshire’s position peaked at $9 billion in June 2022, before it began selling its shares — including a 76% cut last July. Analysis by Business Insider found that the fund made approximately $7 billion from its investment, a return on investment of more than 30x.