Markets
Luke Kawa

US stocks rise on tariff relief and a rush into defensive stocks

Tariff exemptions on consumer electronics announced Friday after the close helped fuel a rise in US stocks on Monday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8%, the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.6%, and the Russell 2000 advanced 1.1%.

However, despite the risk-on tone, with all S&P 500 sectors moving higher, there was a defensive tone to the tape, with real estate, utilities, healthcare, and consumer staples leading the way higher.

Palantir was one of the best-performing members of the S&P 500 after winning a NATO contract, which had stock bulls cheering.

Apple was a big beneficiary of tariff relief, which materially lessens the potential hit to its earnings.

Other electronics retailers like Dell, Best Buy, and HP were also big gainers on this news. Elsewhere in tech, Intel gained after selling a majority stake in its Altera unit to a private equity firm.

Goldman Sachs rose after reporting blockbuster earnings and a huge buyback plan.

Around midday, President Trump suggested that tariff relief could be in the offing for automakers, sending shares of GM, Ford, and Stellantis soaring.

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly gained after Pfizer scrapped plans to develop a weight-loss drug.

Strategy keeps buying bitcoin and investors applauded that on Monday as the cryptocurrency rose as well.

Peloton gained after getting an upgrade to “buy” from Deutsche Bank.

And a poor spot on the tape, from Europe: luxury goods seller LVMH tumbled after reporting weaker-than-anticipated Q1 sales.

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Luke Kawa

Opendoor surges on bullish options bets as traders look to potential real estate tokenization

Opendoor Technologies is surging on Friday amid bullish options bets and social media posts referencing unconfirmed rumors about the company.

The stock moved higher in the premarket session after the soft inflation report boosted stocks and briefly pushed long-term bond yields lower (positive for a real estate company). But the real gains came after the opening bell rang and options demand picked up.

As of 12:11 p.m. ET, roughly 664,000 call options have changed hands versus a 10-day average of about 364,000 for a full session.

What seems to be galvanizing members of the “$OPEN Army” is the potential for the company to pursue the tokenization of real-world assets, with Robinhood often bandied about as a potential partner in this endeavor.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

Opendoor bulls have often pointed to signs that Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev appears to be fond of the company, from what appeared on-screen during a demo of a social trading feature at HOOD’s conference in Las Vegas in September to offering support to Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian in setting up an opportunity for retail shareholders to ask questions during the online real estate company’s next earnings call.

Opendoor is currently in a quiet period ahead of earnings, which restricts what type of announcements a company can make.

The call options seeing the most demand expire this Friday with strike prices of $8, $8.50, and $9.

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Luke Kawa

Beyond Meat gains amid slightly better-than-expected Q3 sales, positive commentary on legal issues

Shares of Beyond Meat built on their premarket gains after the plant-based meat seller reported preliminary Q3 sales a bit ahead of Wall Street’s expectations, before paring this advance after the market opened.

For the three months ended September 27, management said net revenue would be approximately $70 million. That’s in line with their guidance range of $68 million to $73 million, but Wall Street was expecting sales to skew toward the lower end of that range, at $68.7 million.

However, its anticipated gross margin of 10% to 11% is lower than analysts had been expecting (13.8%). That’s still the case even adjusting for expenses related to its downsizing of operations in China, which would have left margins around 12% to 13%, per Beyond.

Perhaps more importantly, the company provided positive commentary regarding arbitration discussions with a former co-manufacturer that appear to bring it closer to a resolution while limiting potential damages:

“As previously disclosed, in March 2024, a former co-manufacturer brought an action against the Company in a confidential arbitration proceeding claiming that the Company inappropriately terminated its agreement with the co-manufacturer and claimed damages of at least $73.0 million. On September 15, 2025, the arbitrator issued an interim award (the ‘Interim Award’) and found that the Company had a valid basis to terminate the agreement with the Manufacturer. The details of the Interim Award are confidential, and a final arbitration award has not been issued. Additional proceedings will be held to determine the award of attorneys’ fees, prejudgment interest and costs, if any, before a final arbitration award will be issued. On September 25, 2025, the Manufacturer filed a request with the arbitrator to re-open the arbitration hearing. On September 29, 2025, the Company opposed this request. On October 20, 2025, the arbitrator denied the Manufacturer’s request.”

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