U.S. stocks closed modestly higher on Monday as investors assessed whether a trend will develop in the week following the Federal Reserve’s rate cut.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 61.29 points, or 0.15%, to 42,124.65, the S&P 500 gained 16.02 points, or 0.28%, to 5,718.57 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 25.95 points, or 0.14%, to 17,974.27.
Market Movers
Intel was up 3.3%. Apollo Global Management offered to make an investment of as much as $5 billion in the chip maker, according to a report from Bloomberg. The news follows a report from The Wall Street Journal that said Qualcomm had approached the struggling rival chip company in recent days about a takeover. Qualcomm shares were down 1.8%.
Intel shares have fallen 56% this year. The company last week said its contract-chip-manufacturing business will become an independent subsidiary, and last month announced a flurry of bad news -- including cutting 15,000 jobs, suspending its dividend, issuing disappointing second-quarter earnings, and issuing weak guidance.
Micron Technology was up 2.9% on Monday. The chip maker is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla Motors gained 4.9%. Earlier in the session, shares of the electric-vehicle maker moved into positive territory for the year. Analysts at Barclays expect third-quarter deliveries of about 470,000 vehicles, compared with consensus forecasts of roughly 460,000.
Palantir Technologies Inc. rose 2% to $37.95. Shares of the software company were downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. Palantir, Dell Technologies, and Erie Indemnity will be added to the S&P 500 index on Monday.
Microsoft declined 0.4% to $433.51. D.A. Davidson downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy but kept its price target unchanged at $475. "We believe competition has largely caught up with Microsoft on the AI front, which reduces the justification for the current premium valuation," the analysts said in a research note.
General Motors was down 1.7% to $48.04. Bernstein lowered its rating on the auto maker to Market Perform from Outperform, with a price target of $53.
Shares of Apple were down 0.8%. The company's iPhone 16 went on sale in stores Friday but without artificial-intelligence features. Apple Intelligence, the company's AI software update, will be available in iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers "starting next month," according to the company.
Market News
House Approves Permit Exemption for Chips, Sending Bill to Biden
The US House approved legislation that would exempt some semiconductor manufacturing projects from federal permitting requirements, addressing concerns that environmental reviews and lawsuits will delay construction of domestic chip factories.
The bill, which is now headed to President Joe Biden’s desk, aims to speed up the build-out of the US semiconductor industry. Chip companies have pledged to invest some $400 billion in factories on American soil — spurred by incentives from the 2022 Chips and Science Act. Companies like Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing are poised to receive billions of dollars from the legislation, helping pay for major projects across the US.
Microsoft May Pay Constellation Premium in Three Mile Island Power Agreement, Jefferies Says
Microsoft is estimated to pay Constellation Energy Corp a premium as part of a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) related to the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, Jefferies analysts said on Monday.
Rising demand for electricity from data centers to power AI technology has created a need for clean and sustainable sources of energy such as nuclear power.
Snowflake Sinks on $2B Convertible Note Offering
Snowflake shares fell nearly 3% in extended trading on Monday after the data warehousing company announced plans to do a $2B convertible note offering.
As part of the offering, $1B of the convertible notes will be due 2027 and the other $1B will be 2029, Snowflake said. The company also said it intends to grant the initial purchasers of the notes up to an additional $150M of the 2027 notes and up to an additional $150M of the 2029 notes.