US stocks rose for a third day in a row despite souring consumer confidence — and as investors weighed whether President Trump would temper his plans for upcoming tariffs.
Market Snapshot
The S&P 500 climbed 0.16% to end the session at 5,776.65 points. The Nasdaq gained 0.46% to 18,271.86 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.01% to 42,587.50 points.
Market Movers
Shares of GameStop Corp. rose more than 7% in extended trading Tuesday after the videogame retailer and original meme-stock company announced its eagerly anticipated foray into bitcoin.
Tesla stock rose 3.5% to $287.99. The electric-vehicle maker's sales in Europe declined 47% in February, marking a second-straight month of sharp declines. The stock closed 12% higher on Monday, its best session since the near-15% gain on Nov. 6, the day after the U.S. presidential election. Boosting the stock Monday was a meeting CEO Elon Musk held with employees last week at which he told employees not to sell their shares, emphasizing Tesla's gains in self-driving technology and robotics.
Trump Media & Technology Group rose 8.9% after the company, the parent of President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform, signed an agreement with Crypto.com to launch a series of exchange-traded funds. The ETFs will be made up of digital assets as well as securities "with a Made in America focus spanning diverse industries such as energy," Trump Media said in a statement. Plans call for the funds to launch later this year.
KB Home declined 5.2% after the home builder reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that missed analysts' estimates as revenue of $1.39 billion dropped 5.2% from a year earlier and was shy of forecasts. The company said because of fewer orders in the quarter it now expects fiscal-year housing revenue of $6.6 billion to $7 billion, down from a prior projection of $7 billion to $7.5 billion. CEO Jeffrey Mezger said home buyers "are working through affordability concerns and uncertainties related to macroeconomic and geopolitical issues."
Shares of Oklo fell 6.4% after the nuclear energy start-up posted a wider annual loss and noted that "significant" financial losses were expected into the near future. "We are an early--stage company with a history of financial losses, and we expect to incur significant expenses and continuing financial losses," the company wrote in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Oklo closed with a gain of 14% on Monday ahead of the report.
UniFirst tumbled 14% after Cintas terminated discussions about a potential purchase of the provider of workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing. Cintas said it made an offer in January for UniFirst that was valued at about $5.3 billion, but the proposal was rejected. In a statement Monday, Cintas CEO Todd Schneider said Cintas doesn't "believe further discussions are warranted at this time." Cintas shares were down 0.6%.
Carvana rose 3.8% to $221.66 after Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas upgraded shares of the online used-car platform to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised the price target to $280 from $260.
CrowdStrike Holdings was up 3.3% after analysts at BTIG upgraded shares of the cybersecurity company to Buy from Neutral and set a target price on the stock of $431. The company likely will record more revenue than Wall Street expects, according to BTIG analyst Gray Powell, now that a major IT outage is "eight months in the rearview mirror."
Cloudflare gained 2.9% to $127.50 after being double-upgraded to Buy from Underperform by BofA Securities. The analysts also raised their price target to $160 from $60. "The company offers a differentiated approach to AI, and we place a high probability on Cloudflare becoming the leader in AI-as-a-Service," the analysts said in a research note.
Mobileye Global rose 8.7% after Volkswagen said it was working with the autonomous-driving-technology company and parts supplier Valeo to " upgrade the advanced driver-assistance systems up to Level 2+ in its upcoming vehicle portfolio based on the MQB platform."
Smithfield Foods fell 2.4% after fourth-quarter earnings and revenue at the pork producer topped analysts' estimates. The company went public on Jan. 28.
Market News
Apple’s WWDC 2025 event starts June 9th
Apple has set the date for this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), with the event kicking off with an in-person experience to watch the keynote and Platforms State of the Union on June 9th at Apple Park and running through June 13th. Announcements will focus on the upcoming versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. Apple reportedly has major visual design changes planned for its software platforms this year. WWDC could also see the debut of new hardware and an update on the AI-powered Siri features that were recently delayed.
Chinese Tea Chain Chagee Reveals Revenue Surge In US IPO Filing
China's Chagee revealed its revenue nearly tripled in 2024 as the tea chain filed for a U.S. initial public offering on Tuesday, joining firms betting on a broader recovery in investor appetite for new listings.
After a prolonged slowdown, the U.S. IPO market is poised for a rebound in 2025, with a wave of high-growth companies preparing to go public.
