The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched record-high closes on Tuesday, fueled by gains in Nvidia after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers that more "good" economic data would strengthen the case for rate cuts.
Market Snapshot
The S&P 500 climbed 0.07% to end the session at 5,576.98 points. The Nasdaq gained 0.14% to 18,429.29 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.13% to 39,291.97 points.
Market Movers
Tesla - Tesla rose 3.7%. It has risen 5.6% this year and locked in its10th-straight gain. It’s the longest streak for shares of the electric-vehicle maker since June 13, 2023, when Tesla rose for 13 straight trading days. Tesla issued a better-than-expectedsecond-quarter deliveries reportlast week.
Nvidia - Nvidia gained 2.5% to $131.38. Analysts at KeyBanc raised their price target onshares of the chip maker, whose graphics-processing units are the favored choice for training artificial-intelligence models, to $180 from $130. They maintained an Overweight rating on the stock.
Intel - Intel increased 1.8%, reversing losses from earlier in the day. The chip maker closed with a gain of 6.2% on Monday. Intel was highlighted in a note from Melius Research that said the companycould have a strong second half of the year.
BP - U.S.-listed shares of BP declined 4.8% after the energy company said it expects to record animpairment charge of up to $2 billionin the second quarter and that “significantly lower realized refining margins” would lead to a hit of up to $700 million to its oil-trading earnings.
UiPath - UiPath declined 6.9% after the software company said it was cutting10% of its global workforce. UiPath said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it approved a restructuring plan to manage operating expenses, including laying off about 420 employees.
Corning - Corning extended gains, rising 3.8% after jumping 12% on Monday after the specialty glassmaker raised its guidancefor the second quarter, saying the “outperformance was primarily driven by the strong adoption of our new optical connectivity products for Generative AI.”
Albemarle - Albemarle fell 8.8% to $90.47. Analysts at Baird trimmed their price target to $127 from $170 on shares of the lithium miner. Albemarle was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 on Tuesday.
Helen Of Troy - Helen of Troy slumped 27.7% after the consumer-products company postedfiscal first-quarter adjusted earningsthat widely missed analysts’ estimates and cut its fiscal 2025 outlook. CEO Noel M. Geoffroy said he sees the fiscal year “as a time to take action to reset and revitalize our business. As a result, we are lowering our annual outlook, which delays the delivery of the long-term financial algorithm in our strategic plan.”
Kymera Therapeutics - Shares of Kymera Therapeutics rose 23.4% after the company said Sanofi intends to expand its ongoing Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Atopic DermatitisPhase 2 trials“to more rapidly progress towards pivotal studies.” Analysts at B. Riley raised their price target on the stock to $36 from $31 and kept their Neutral rating.
Helios Technologies - Helios Technologies fell 10.9% after the company’s boardplaced CEO and President Josef Matosevic on paid leaveas it conducts an investigation into allegations of a potential violation of the company’s conduct and ethics code. Helios, an engineered motion control and electronic controls technology company, said the “alleged conduct that prompted this review does not relate to, and does not impact, the company’s strategy or financial reporting.”
Market News
Powell Inches the Fed Closer to Cutting Rates
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made a subtle but important shift that moved the central bank closer to lowering interest rates when he suggested Tuesday that a further cooling in the labor market could be undesirable.
“Elevated inflation is not the only risk we face,” Powell told the Senate Banking Committee during the first of two days of testimony Tuesday. “We’ve seen that the labor market has cooled really significantly across so many measures.…It’s not a source of broad inflationary pressures for the economy now.”
That assessment is notable because Fed officials have long cited an overheated labor market as a primary risk to bringing inflation back down.
Apple Sees Biggest Gains as Quarterly Personal Computer Shipments Jump
Apple Inc. reported a 21% gain in personal computer shipments in the second quarter, the biggest jump among global PC makers as part of a budding industry recovery that produced a second consecutive period of growth.
Worldwide shipments of desktops and laptops increased 3% from a year earlier in the period ended in June, according to a report Tuesday from IDC, an industry research firm. Apple and Acer Inc., which posted a jump of about 14%, saw the largest growth in shipments among major manufacturers.
“Two consecutive quarters of growth, combined with plenty of market hype around AI PCs and a less sexy but arguably more important commercial refresh cycle, seems to be what the PC market needed,” wrote Ryan Reith, an IDC group vice president.