Tech rally drives stocks higher as AI trade is back on
Stocks kicked off the holiday week with a tech-fueled rally, led by Broadcom.
The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all climbed markedly higher on Monday. Broadcom was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 as rave reviews for Google’s Gemini 3 boosted the appeal of its custom chips. Tech led the pack among sector ETFs as the AI trade was back in favor, followed by consumer discretionary, driven by gains in Tesla, and then communication services, driven by gains in Alphabet. In fact, every BATMMAAN stock rose. Dovish commentary from Fed Governor Christopher Waller fueled December rate cut optimism.
Stocks that moved higher:
Google soared after its cloud division announced “a significant, multi-million-dollar contract” with NATO’s Communication and Information Agency to deliver AI-enabled sovereign cloud capabilities.
Alibaba rose after the Chinese e-commerce giant disclosed that its revamped Qwen app was downloaded more than 10 million times in the week since it was relaunched.
Cipher Digital and IREN both climbed higher, thanks to upgrades from analysts at JPMorgan.
Sandisk recouped some of its recent losses amid a recovery in the AI data center trade.
Shares of used car retailer Carvana got a boost following an upgrade and a price target hike from Wedbush Securities.
Citi analysts lifted their price target for aspiring nuclear power provider Oklo after meeting with management last week.
Stocks that moved lower:
Novo Nordisk sank after the pharma giant shared that oral semaglutide — a key ingredient behind its Ozempic and Wegovy drugs — didn’t slow Alzheimer’s disease in two trials.
Grindr fell after it announced that a committee of board members decided to disengage with a take-private proposal by its majority shareholders due to “uncertainty as to the financing” for the deal.
