Luke Kawa12/20/24

US stocks close out the week on a high note

The S&P 500 rose 1.1% while the Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 advanced by 0.9% to end a bad week on a strong note.

A subdued reading for November’s core PCE inflation helped alleviate investor worries about rising prices, a concern the Federal Reserve fanned the flames of earlier this week.

Breadth finally returned: for the first time this month, more S&P 500 stocks rose than fell, snapping the streak of 14 consecutive sessions with a negative advance-decline line.

Every S&P 500 sector ETF was positive. Real estate, utilities, tech, and financials led the way. Consumer discretionary was a relative laggard, amid a 3.5% retreat in Tesla. In fact, despite a 3.5% advance from Nvidia, the Magnificent 7’s 0.2% gain was its smallest of the year for a session in which the S&P 500 was up at least 1%.

After a 30% drop from its peak, MicroStrategy rebounded with a massive 11.6% gain.

Avocado seller Mission Produce had its second-best day ever after posting record sales figures and comments from management suggesting the company was well positioned to navigate any potential trade levies that might be instituted by the incoming Trump administration.

Not all stocks managed to finish the week well, however. Starbucks was down 0.9% as strikes threaten to limit its seasonal sales bump.

And Novo Nordisk got slammed, down more than 17% after its new weight-loss drug didn’t live up to the company’s hopes, helping spark a little rally in rival Eli Lilly in the process.

More Markets

See all Markets

Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks fall after new Fed Chair Warsh’s first policy meeting as traders worry about a rate hike

While the Fed left rates unchanged (as expected) a hawkish dot plot has traders bracing themselves for a rate hike this year.

Brown bear on a rock

Federal Reserve removes easing bias, policymakers see a hike as more likely than a cut this year

The knee-jerk move for stocks was to the downside.

Kevin Warsh closeup

markets

Helena Cheng17h

Figma rises on Citi’s Buy rating and $36 price target

Figma shares are rising moderately in pre-market trading after Citigroup initiated coverage with a Buy rating, saying demand tied to AI could help fuel the design software company’s next phase of growth, according to the note provided by Bloomberg.

Citi set a $36 price target on the stock and said Figma is well-positioned to offset AI disruption concerns through its own AI-driven consumption growth.

"Our proprietary customer and go-to-market (GTM) checks with hyperscalers and large financial services (FS) firms suggest strong seat upgrades & credit pack utilization, which offer positive reads on AI-monetization strategy," analyst Tyler Radke commented.

The company has been moving to roll out AI-native features in recent months, including developer-focused tools and in-house Figma agent aimed at making Figma a more central operating layer between product teams, engineers and AI systems.

Citi also pointed to upcoming product launches and potential monetization tied to Figma’s Model Context Protocol server which is an emerging framework that could allow AI systems to interact more directly with design environments.

Figma’s most recent earnings posted stronger-than-expected revenue growth while management raised its full-year guidance, saying that AI-related products were seeing encouraging adoption.

Still, the company that went public in 2025 has faced intense pressure with stock tumbling more than 50% this year-to-date over fears that automated AI code-generation tools and design alternatives from competitors like Anthropic might squeeze the need for seat-based design software.

Tasha Matsumoto

Semiconductors slump, dragging down stocks

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 fell as chip stocks and AI-linked names lost steam. Oil prices slid on the prospect of the Strait of Hormuz reopening.

Grizzly bear growling USA.

markets

Paige Oamek6/16/26

Lionsgate closes higher on Netflix acquisition rumor, streaming giant denies report

Shares for the film production company Lionsgate soared on Tuesday following rumors of a potential buyout.

According to a person familiar with the possible merger and acquisitions deal, streaming giant Netflix is one of the companies that may be interested in buying Lionsgate Studios, per reporting by Semafor. A Netflix spokesperson denied the rumor to Deadline.

Neither Lionsgate nor Netflix confirmed the news, but nevertheless the stock climbed, closing up 14%. The stock fell 4.6% in premarket trading after Netflix denied the rumor.

Netflix closed lower on news that Fox will acquire Roku in an approximately $22 billion deal after it was also rumored that the streaming company was interested in that acquisition. “Netflix did not make a bid for Roku,” a spokesperson told Semafor. This comes after Netflix withdrew its buyout bid for Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this year.

Lionsgate’s shares are up 77% since January. Lionsgate owns massive franchises like “John Wick” and “The Hunger Games.” The film company has a market cap of approximately $4.7 billion, making it roughly 5x smaller than Roku and 13x smaller than Warner Bros.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC and Chartr Limited produce fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and are fully owned subsidiaries of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Money, LLC, Robinhood U.K. Ltd, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, Robinhood Gold, LLC, Robinhood Asset Management, LLC, Robinhood Credit, Inc., Robinhood Ventures DE, LLC and, where applicable, its managed investment vehicles.

©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC