Markets
Luke Kawa

US stocks jump as drama-free session spurs rebound

A day largely bereft of immediate tariff threats was music to traders’ ears, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all booking strong gains on Tuesday.

Energy was the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, as the lack of immediate supply distributions from Canada buoyed the group despite a downdraft in the price of crude oil. Tech and consumer discretionary were also up more than 1%, while the defensive consumer staples and utilities sectors suffered declines and were at the bottom of the sector leaderboard.

Palantir skyrocketed on the heels of blowout revenue growth and guidance that suggests more of the same is in the offing. Some bears are admitting the error of their ways, while bulls rejoice and look for further gains.

Nvidia rebounded from Monday’s tumble as traders showed persistent demand to buy the dip, and Bank of America doubled down on the stock as its top pick in the industry.

Embattled server company Super Micro Computer surged after saying it would provide a “business update” next week, which has spurred hopes that the company will get its corporate filings in order in time to avoid delisting from the Nasdaq.

Fox jumped on top- and bottom-line results that surpassed every analysts’ expectation and plans to launch its first streaming service this year.

Merck got slammed after pausing shipments of one of its key drugs to China on poor demand.

PayPal had its worst day since February 2022 as analysts fret that the payments company is losing market share.

North America has not been kind to PepsiCo, with its lackluster results for the region prompting a large retreat in the stock.

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Health insurance stocks lose steam as Trump says he’ll lobby insurers for lower prices

Shares of health insurance companies dropped Friday afternoon, as President Trump said he would ask insurers to meet with him in the coming weeks to seek lower prices.

Stocks including Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, CVS Health, and Elevance Health all either pared gains or went further into the red after Trump’s remarks, which came at the end of a press event to announce pricing deals with nine drugmakers.

“I’m going to call a meeting of the big insurance companies that have gotten so rich,” Trump said, noting that he would lobby them for lower prices.

“I would say that maybe with one talk, they would be willing to cut their prices by 50, 60, or 70%. They’ve made a fortune.”

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Rivian’s surge continues as stock reaches highest level since December 2023 on analyst upgrades

Shares of EV maker Rivian are on pace to close up double digits for the second day in a row on Friday as bullish investors pour into the stock following analyst upgrades.

Rivian shares were up more than 10% on Friday afternoon, with the stock climbing to its highest level since December 2023.

Webush’s Dan Ives boosted his Rivian price target by 56% to $25 in a note on Friday morning. The analyst wrote that 2026 is a “prove-me” year for the automaker, with its lower-cost R2 model set to launch in the first half.

Ives’s note follows a separate optimistic bit of analysis from Baird, which also boosted its Rivian price target to $25 in a note on Thursday.

If today's gains hold, Friday will mark the third day of double-digit gains for Rivian in the past six trading days. An “AI Day” event that saw the automaker detail autonomous updates and tease a robotaxi plan started the recent run.

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The neoclouds are shooting back up into the stratosphere

Investors’ faith in tech CEOs’ pursuit of digital God has seemingly been restored for now, sparking an intense rally in the speculative AI players that had been in full-on meltdown mode over concerns that the boom had passed its best-before date.

The data center companies colloquially known as the “neoclouds” — CoreWeave, Nebius, IREN, and Cipher Mining — are up more than double digits over the past two sessions, as of 10:40 a.m. ET.

The past 48 hours have brought a steady drumbeat of positive news for the AI theme.

CoreWeave received a vote of confidence from Wall Street as Citi resumed coverage with a buy rating and price target of $135. Oracle, the epicenter of AI credit concerns, has seen a reversal in its fortunes as it nears an acquisition of TikTok’s US operations. And OpenAI’s fundraising efforts appear be going so well that its reported valuation has gone up in back-to-back days.

Before that, Micron’s earnings reaffirmed the intense demand for AI compute, which continues to outstrip supply — a positive sign for the neoclouds. The macro backdrop is also turning perhaps a bit more in favor of lower interest rates, as CPI inflation came in well below expectations.

Snoop Dogg Performs At OVO Hydro Glasgow

Marijuana rescheduling could mean more investment in US weed stocks. There aren’t many ways in.

“Yes, institutional capital will go into the underlying names. The question is: How fast?" one weed company chairman said.

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