The S&P 500 rose sharply to end at its highest in over two weeks on Monday, lifted by Nvidia and Tesla following signs that the Trump administration might take a more measured approach on tariffs against U.S. trading partners.
Market Snapshot
The S&P 500 climbed 1.76% to end the session at 5,767.57 points. The Nasdaq gained 2.27% to 18,188.59 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.42% to 42,583.32 points.
Market Movers
Tesla rose 12% to $278.39. While shares of the electric-vehicle maker rose 5.3% on Friday, the gain wasn't enough to prevent the stock from falling for a ninth-straight week. Tesla is about to roll out its highest-level driver assistance product, called Full Self Driving, of FSD, in China, according to a report from Reuters.
BYD, the world's largest EV maker and Tesla rival, reported a 34% jump in fiscal-year net profit as revenue rose 29% to 777.1 billion yuan and topped analysts' estimates. U.S.-listed shares of BYD rose 5.7%.
Nvidia gained 3.2% as reports that tariffs on chips coming into the U.S. might be off the table, at least in the short term, helped boost shares of the leading maker of artificial-intelligence chips. Sector-specific tariffs -- including on chips -- unlikely will be announced next week, the Journal reported.
MicroStrategy rose 10%. The major Bitcoin investor said Monday that between March 17 and March 23 it acquired about 6,911 Bitcoins for roughly $584.1 million in cash, at an average price of about $84,529 per Bitcoin. As of Sunday, the company held a total of 506,137 Bitcoins, which were acquired for about $33.7 billion.
Lockheed Martin declined 1.1% to $434.98, extending losses from Friday when shares of the defense contractor slumped nearly 6%. BofA Securities analyst Ronald Epstein downgraded Lockheed shares to Hold from Buy and cut his price target to $485 from $685 after the company lost out to Boeing for the U.S. Air Force's next fighter jet. Boeing rose 2.3%.
AZEK jumped 17% to $48.56 after the manufacturer of outdoor living products agreed to be acquired by Australian-listed James Hardie Industries $8.75 billion in cash and stock. The deal values Azek at about $56.88 a share, a 26% premium to its volume weighted-average price over the past 30 days.
DoorDash rose 4.4%, TKO Group Holdings was up 2%, Williams-Sonoma gained 4.1%, and Expand Energy rose 1.6% as the stocks joined the S&P 500 on Monday.
Super Micro Computer fell 1% to $41.72. Shares of the maker of artificial-intelligence servers were downgraded to Sell from Neutral by Goldman Sachs and the price target was reduced to $32 from $40. Last week, analysts at J.P. Morgan upgraded Super Micro shares to Neutral from Underweight and boosted their price target to $45 from $35.
Pinterest rose 5% to $34.04 after the social media company was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim and the stock's price target was raised to $40 from $39. "We believe that the recent share price pullback creates an attractive opportunity to invest in the still early-stage global user, monetization and profit growth opportunity at Pinterest," the analysts said in a research note.
Intuitive Machines jumped 30% after the space-exploration company said it expects to generate sales in 2025 of between $250 million and $300 million, below analysts' expectations, but sees positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization in 2026.
ViaSat jumped 14% to $11.19 after Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of the satellite-communications company to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $15 from $13. ViaSat has "multiple paths" to create equity value, the analysts said.
Market News
Boeing Is Pushing to Withdraw Guilty Plea Tied to Deadly MAX Jet Crashes
Boeing is seeking to withdraw an earlier agreement to plead guilty in a long-running criminal case that blamed the company for deceiving regulators before two deadly crashes of 737 MAX jets, according to people familiar with the matter.
The aerospace giant is seeking more lenient treatment from the Justice Department, which under the Trump administration is reviewing numerous pending criminal cases that haven’t yet gone to trial or been approved by courts. Boeing nearly sealed its fate last year, agreeing in July to plead guilty to defrauding the Federal Aviation Administration. But a federal judge in Texas rejected the proposed deal in December, pushing the resolution beyond the Biden administration.
Quantum computing startup PsiQuantum raising at least $750 million, sources say
Quantum computing startup PsiQuantum is raising at least $750 million at a $6 billion pre-money valuation, according to two people familiar with the matter.
BlackRock BLK.N is leading the fundraising effort, which has not yet been completed, one of the people said.
