US stocks close at record highs on US-China trade truce optimism

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all started off the week with record highs ahead of a big earnings week, with five of the members of the Magnificent 7 reporting.

Toby Bochan, Luke Kawa

US stocks kicked off the week on a positive note, after top officials from the US and China signaled that positive discussions this weekend had cleared the runway for the world’s two largest economies to reach a deal.

The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, the Nasdaq 100 outperformed with a 1.8% advance, and the Russell 2000 gained 0.3%, with all three setting record closing highs.

Tech, consumer discretionary, and communications services (home to the Magnificent 7 stocks) were the three S&P sector ETFs to rise at least 1% on the day.

Stocks that moved higher:

Semiconductor stocks rose on positive discussions between the US and China, sending Nvidia, Broadcom, and Intel higher.
The US-China trade news also lifted wafer fab equipment makers Applied Materials and Lam Research.
Separately, Qualcomm surged after revealing new AI chips for data centers and that Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN will be the first big buyer.
Fermi spiked after announcing a nuclear deal with South Korean industrial firms Doosan Enerbility and Hyundai Engineering & Construction ahead of President Trump’s visit to the country this week.
EV maker Rivian rose as bullish options flows lifted the stock ahead of its third-quarter earnings, set to drop next week.
Palantir touched a new intraday high after signing a new defense deal with Poland.
Strive Inc., the Vivek Ramaswamy-backed bitcoin treasury company, jumped again on elevated retail interest.

Stocks that moved lower:

POET Technologies tumbled after announcing a $150 million share offering to two new fundamental investment managers.
Intellia tanked after it paused late-stage CRISPR gene-editing trials following the hospitalization of one patient, dragging down Editas Medicine, Beam Therapeutics Inc, CRISPR Therapeutics, and Prime Medicine with it.
Gold sank as retail traders pulled money from commodity ETFs like SPDR Gold Shares ETF.
The likeliness of a US-China trade truce wasn’t all good news, as rare earth stocks such as Critical Metals, USA Rare Earth, Lithium Americas, United States Antimony Corp., and MP Materials all cratered on the news.

Max Knoblauch4h

Bullish options flows boost Rivian

EV maker Rivian is up nearly 5% on Monday afternoon as bullish options flows lift the stock ahead of its third-quarter earnings, set to drop next week.

According to Bloomberg, Rivian call options traded outnumber put options more than five to one, for a put/call ratio of less than 0.2 as of 2:38 p.m. ET. That’s significantly less than the 20-day put/call average of 0.4. More than 116,000 call options have changed hands, more than 60% above the full-day average over the past 20 days.

Rivian’s upcoming earnings will measure the automaker’s sales ahead of the expiration of the $7,500 EV tax credit. Since September, Rivian has performed two rounds of layoffs as it seeks to cut costs amid the end of regulatory credits and ahead of next year’s lower-cost SUV launch.

Matt Phillips5h

Palantir inks defense deal with Poland, touches new intraday high

Palantir Technologies touched a new intraday high of $192.83 early Monday, as the company rode the China trade truce rally in AI tech stocks and retail favorites.

Palantir also signed a new deal to supply the government of Poland with data, AI, and cybersecurity software, according to Bloomberg.

Polish Minister of Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and Palantir CEO Alex Karp signed the letter of intent on the deal, about which few details were released. Polish officials did signal that they were interested in Palantir software systems for “battlefield management” and logistics. Up more than 150% this year, Palantir reports Q3 earnings on November 3.

Poland Signs Palantir, Anduril Deals Amid Record Army Spending

J. Edward Moreno7h

Intellia tanks as it pauses late-stage CRISPR gene-editing trials after one patient was hospitalized

Intellia dropped sharply on Monday after it announced that it’s pausing two late-stage CRISPR gene-editing trials because one patient was hospitalized with liver damage.

Intellia had also disclosed in May that a patient had experienced elevated liver enzymes. The news is a major setback for the company, which currently has no products on the market and is working on a one-time treatment for heart and nerve conditions.

The news dragged down other companies working on CRISPR treatments, including Beam Therapeutics Inc, Crispr Therapeutics, Editas Medicine, and Prime Medicine.

Luke Kawa7h

Gold craters as retail traders pull money from commodity ETFs

As its fierce rally begins to fade, it looks like retail traders are waving au revoir to gold.

JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain noted that retail traders have pulled about $120 million from commodity ETFs as of 11 a.m. ET on Monday, a level that stands in the 0.4th percentile relative to its one-year average. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF is down 2.8% as of 11:53 a.m. ET after suffering its worst loss since April 2013 last Tuesday. That day, retail had pulled just $50 million from commodity ETFs by 11 a.m.

The five-session average daily flows into the product hit an all-time high of nearly $1.1 billion last Monday as gold and silver had effectively become the new meme stocks, displaying strong momentum and heavy options activity.

Luke Kawa7h

POET Technologies tumbles after announcing $150 million share offering to two new fundamental investment managers

POET Technologies is tumbling after announcing that it’s selling 20.7 million shares to raise approximately $150 million in an oversubscribed registered direct offering “by two new fundamental investors.”

Its prior $75 million raise through the sale of stock and warrants earlier this month is widely presumed to have been to MMCAP International, which was already its largest shareholder.

“We’ve been very pleased with the level of interest in POET by investors of all types — retail, institutional,” POET Executive Chairman and CEO Dr. Suresh Venkatesan recently told Sherwood News, saying that the company’s focus this year is to make sure that “the technology that we’re developing is truly manufacturable at scale and at wafer scale.”

The optical communications company has enjoyed elevated interest from retail investors recently as the AI boom raises the demand for data to be transferred as quickly and efficiently as possible. Last week, POET announced a $5 million order for its optical engines from a “leading systems integrator.”

Per the press release, POET “intends to use the net proceeds from this investment for corporate development, including targeted acquisitions, scaling up of R&D, acceleration of the light source business, expanding operations, and general working capital.”