U.S. stocks ended with modest losses on Monday, as the focus shifted after last week's AI-fueled rally to upcoming economic data that could affect the timing of the Federal Reserve's expected interest rate cut.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 62.30 points, or 0.16%, to 39,069.23. The S&P 500 lost 19.27 points, or 0.38%, at 5,069.53 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 20.57 points, or 0.13%, at 15,976.25.
Market Movers
Zoom shares rose as much as 13% in extended trading on Monday after the video chat software vendor announced fiscal fourth-quarter results that topped analysts’ expectations.
Unity Software shares plummeted 17% in extended trading on Monday after the gaming software company issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the current quarter.
Domino’s Pizza jumped 5.8% after the pizza chain reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, raised its dividend, and said its board authorized additional stock repurchases of up to $1 billion.
Shares of Micron Technology rose 4% after the semiconductor company said it has begun “volume production” of its High Bandwidth Memory 3E chips, which will be incorporated in the coming Nvidia H200 graphics processing units.
Kroger fell 2% while Albertsons was up 0.6% after the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the merger of the grocery companies. The agency said in a federal lawsuit filed in Oregon that the deal would lead to higher food prices for consumers as well as lower wages for workers.
Alcoa has reached a deal to acquire Australia’s Alumina that values the company at about $2.2 billion. The companies operate the Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals joint venture, which operates or has interests in bauxite mines and alumina refineries in Australia, Brazil, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Guinea. Alumina’s board has recommended that shareholders accept the all-stock deal. Alcoa declined 4.5%.
Shares of Intuitive Machines dropped 35% after the company’s Odysseus lunar lander tipped over when it landed on the moon’s surface. Some of the lander’s antennas weren’t pointing toward Earth, hampering its communications. But the company told Barron’s that its science payloads were intact and operational.
American depositary receipts of Li Auto shares rose 19% after the Chinese electric-vehicle maker posted fourth-quarter revenue that more than doubled to $5.8 billion and the company reported its first annual net profit.
Freshpet jumped 20% after the dog food manufacturer issued a stronger-than-expected sales outlook for 2024 after swinging to a fourth-quarter profit.
HashiCorp rose 14% after shares of the software infrastructure company were upgraded by Morgan Stanley to Overweight from Equal Weight.
Moderna declined 5% to $91.66 after shares of the vaccine maker were downgraded to Reduce from Hold at HSBC and the price target was increased to $86 from $75.
Berkshire Hathaway ‘s fourth-quarter operating earnings after taxes rose 28% to $8.5 billion in the fourth quarter on strength in the company’s large insurance business and higher investment income. The conglomerate’s cash on hand rose to a record $167.7 billion at the end of the fourth quarter from $157 billion on Sept. 30. Berkshire’s class B shares were down 1.9%. The class A shares also declined 1.9%.
Amazon.com replaced Walgreens Boots Alliance as one of the 30 members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Amazon fell 0.1% while Walgreens traded down 3.4%.
Market News
Google steps up Microsoft criticism, warns of rival's monopoly in cloud
Alphabet's Google Cloud on Monday ramped up its criticism of Microsoft's cloud computing practices, saying its rival is seeking a monopoly that would harm the development of emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence.
Microsoft and Amazon have recently attracted scrutiny in Britain, the European Union and the United States over their market power in cloud computing. Google trails a distant third behind the two leaders.
JetBlue, Spirit urge US appeals court to allow merger to go forward
JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines on Monday urged a U.S. appeals court to overturn a judge's ruling that blocked their $3.8 billion merger at the U.S. Department of Justice's request.
The airlines in a brief told the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the judge wrongly barred their merger despite recognizing it would "improve competition, and thus reduce prices, for the vast majority of consumers."