Luke Kawa2/18/25

S&P 500 closes at record high after late-day surge

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to set fresh intraday and closing records, the Nasdaq 100 also advanced 0.2%, and the Russell 2000 outperformed with a 0.5% gain on Tuesday.

Commodity-linked S&P 500 sector ETFs (energy and materials) were the top-performing on the day, with tech, utilities, industrials, and financials also booking strong gains. Communication services were at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Chips performed well, buoyed by Micron and Intel, the latter of which boomed as acquisition rumors gained steam. Super Micro Computer’s ridiculously good month continued as investors keep buying into the story that its revenues will boom as Nvidia’s Blackwell sales ramp. The $3 trillion chip designer’s investment in WeRide also continues to fuel a massive surge in the Chinese self-driving car company’s shares.

Nike’s partnership with Kim Kardashian’s Skims produced the best day for the athletic giant since its former CEO abruptly announced his departure last September.

A filing released late Friday showed that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway loaded up on Constellation Brands in the fourth quarter, sending shares higher.

Separately, BlackBerry got a big lift after a prominent hedge fund, Hood River, disclosed a significant stake in the cybersecurity company. Elsewhere in companies that have BB in their ticker and have seen better eras, Bath & Body Works soared on the heels of an upgrade from JPMorgan.

AMC gained as moviegoers the world over flocked to see the new “Captain America” movie despite poor reviews.

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Markets droop as AI credit fears grow and jobs report looms

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all slumped on Monday.

Black Bear with Hand on Head

To AI-nfinity... and beyond!

Deutsche Bank highlights four roadblocks for tech CEOs’ obsession: Data centers in space

The good news: “There are clearly technical challenges to making this a viable endeavor but these seem to be engineering constraints as opposed to physics,” per Deutsche Bank.

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Matt Phillips11h

Bitcoin-sensitive stocks hammered as crypto declines

Bitcoin-sensitive stocks tumbled Monday, enduring a much steeper drop than the keystone crypto asset itself, which was down nearly 4%, falling below $87,000, as of 12:20 p.m. ET.

Goldman Sachs’ themed basket of bitcoin-sensitive equities was down more than 8%. (It consists of companies tied to bitcoin, either through mining, digital payments, crypto investment, or blockchain technology.) It was one of the worst performers among Goldman’s thematically curated baskets of shares on Monday.

Among the basket’s constituents, miners Cipher Mining, CleanSpark, Hut 8, TeraWulf, and IREN were getting the worst of it.

At midday, the basket was on its way to its worst day since November 24, when bitcoin was also languishing below $90,000 and the broader tech sector was going through a brief downturn related to rising worries about durability of the AI boom.

Among the basket’s constituents, miners Cipher Mining, CleanSpark, Hut 8, TeraWulf, and IREN were getting the worst of it.

At midday, the basket was on its way to its worst day since November 24, when bitcoin was also languishing below $90,000 and the broader tech sector was going through a brief downturn related to rising worries about durability of the AI boom.

GameStop rallies on bullish options activity as Michael Burry teases post

And let’s not sell the artist formerly known as “Best Buy Rilie” short, either.

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Nvidia’s favorite stocks are getting shellacked as AI credit risk spreads

Nvidia’s “House of GPUs” is looking a little wobbly.

Shares of Applied Digital, CoreWeave, and Nebius — three of the four biggest equity positions held by the chip designer as of September 30 — are getting crushed on Monday.

Nvidia owned about $3.6 billion worth of these data center and neocloud stocks (with the overwhelming majority in CoreWeave) per its most recent 13F filing.

The AI credit risk that’s been most talked about in reference to Oracle’s widening credit default swaps spreads is also present in some of these firms, as well.

An Applied Digital bond due in 2030 is trading below $96 for the first time this month. That issuance was made to support data centers where CoreWeave will be the main tenant.

CoreWeave, which earlier this year received warrants enabling it to purchase a large chunk of Applied Digital shares as part of a data center leasing deal, sank last week after announcing a $2 billion convertible note offering that was later upsized.

Of course, it’s not just Nvidia-owned stocks, but the entire data center ecosystem that’s under pressure on Monday. Cipher Mining and IREN are also getting walloped — with Monday’s crypto tumble also likely weighing on these two bitcoin miners turned data center companies.

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