The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended down slightly on Monday with investors preparing for this week's consumer and producer price data, which they hope will provide a better idea of whether the Federal Reserve can begin cutting interest rates in the coming months.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 46.97 points, or 0.12%, to 38,769.66, the S&P 500 lost 5.75 points, or 0.11%, to 5,117.94 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 65.84 points, or 0.41%, to 16,019.27.
Market Movers
Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia dipped another 2% on Monday after the chip maker shed $128 billion in market cap on Friday, the company’s largest drop on record. Nvidia closed down 5.6% on Friday, the largest percentage decrease for the shares since May 31, 2023, when they fell 5.7%. The company was sued Friday over allegedly using copyrighted works in training artificial-intelligence systems.
Boeing (BA) - Boeing fell 3% after The Wall Street Journal reported the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the Boeing 737 MAX jet that experienced a blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight in early January. The Journal, citing documents and people familiar with the matter, said investigators have contacted some passengers and crew on the Jan. 5 flight. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all MAX 9 jets after the incident. They returned to service after all required repairs were made and the planes were inspected.
Coinbase (COIN), MicroStrategy (MSTR) - Coinbase fell 1% and MicroStrategy rose 4.1% as the crypto-related companies reacted to Bitcoin’s moves. The world’s largest cryptocurrency at last check was at $72,171.63, up 3.8% over the past 24 hours. It set a record high of $72,739 earlier.
PDD Holdings (PDD) - U.S.-listed shares of PDD Holdings, the Chinese e-commerce company, rose 1.4% after Jefferies upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold. Analysts at Goldman Sachs, however, downgraded PDD to Neutral From Buy.
Duolingo (DUOL) - Duolingo gained 4.3% to $222.64 after shares of the language learning company were initiated with a Buy recommendation at J.P. Morgan and price target of $270. Analyst Bryan Smilek thinks Duolingo can boost revenue at a compounded average growth rate of 27% through 2026.
EQT (EQT) - EQT declined 7.8% after the company confirmed it reached a deal to buy back Equitrans Midstream, its former unit. The company will have an initial enterprise value of more than $35 billion.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (WH) - Wyndham Hotels & Resorts rose 2.4% after Choice Hotels said it was ending its attempted takeover of the rival hotel chain. Choice Hotels said its exchange offer to buy Wyndham shares has expired and it was withdrawing its nominations to Wyndham’s board. Choice Hotels also said its board approved an increase to its buyback program of five million shares. Choice Hotels was up 5.4%.
Market News
Bitcoin Hits Record Above $72,000 As Demand Frenzy Intensifies
Bitcoin hit a record high on Monday above $72,000, as the biggest cryptocurrency's surge showed no signs of slowing down.
Bitcoin was last up 4.4% at $72,649 after reaching as high as $72,739.
The world's most valuable cryptocurrency has been boosted by a flood of cash into new spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds and hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates.
Biden's $7.3 Trillion Budget Is Campaign Pitch for Spending, Tax Goals
U.S. President Joe Biden sketched his policy vision for a potential second four-year term on Monday, unveiling a $7.3 trillion election-year budget aimed at convincing skeptical Americans that he can run the economy better than Donald Trump.
Biden wants to raise taxes by trillions on corporations and high earners, his budget wish-list showed, to help cut the deficit and pay for new programs assisting those who make less cope with high housing and childcare costs. Congress is unlikely to adopt the measures as proposed.
Biden's budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which starts this October, includes raising the corporate income tax rate to 28% from 21%, forcing those with wealth of $100 million to pay at least 25% of their income in taxes, and letting the government negotiate to bring more drug costs down.
Meanwhile, the government would bring back a child tax credit for low- and middle-income earners, fund childcare programs, funnel $258 billion to building homes, provide 12 weeks of paid family leave for workers, and spend billions on law enforcement.