To The Moon

Stocks Rise Monday, Tech Leads Ahead of Holiday Shortened Week 

Stocks rose on Monday to kick off a holiday-shortened trading week, driven by strength in technology stocks, with trading expected to remain subdued as the New York Stock Exchange closes early on Tuesday for Christmas Eve and shuts down completely on Christmas Day.

At the closing bell 4 pm ET, the $S&P 500(.SPX)$   climbed 0.73% to 5,974.07, the $DJIA(.DJI)$   climbed 0.16% to 42,906.95, and the $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$   climbed 0.98% to 19,764.89.

The tech heavyweights, including $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$  , $Meta Platforms, Inc.(META)$  , and $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$  , all rose at least 2%.

Treasury yields moved higher with 10-year rate nearing 4.6% -- a seven-month high -- after data showed U.S. consumer confidence pulled back this month.

Market sentiment took a hit from disappointing economic data, with the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index falling to 104.7 in December, missing the Dow Jones estimate of 113.0. November durable goods orders also saw a 1.1% decline, the steepest monthly drop since June.

By the end of the day Monday, most sectors posted gains, with Communication Services leading up 1.35%, followed by Information Technology (+1.26%) and Health Care (+1.04%). Energy (+0.61%), Real Estate (+0.50%), and Consumer Discretionary (+0.42%) also saw positive movement. However, Materials (-0.12%) and Consumer Staples (-0.57%) closed in the red, while Industrials saw a slight dip of -0.04%.

Oil futures ended modestly lower Monday, extending a decline seen the previous week in response to a surging U.S. dollar and worries about the outlook for demand - particularly from China, the world's largest crude importer.

$TPG Inc (TPG.US)$'s climate investment arm is in talks to acquire solar company $Altus Power (AMPS.US)$, Reuters reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

$TeraWulf (WULF.US)$ shares finished down 12% after the company announced on Monday it has signed long-term data center lease deals with G42 unit Core42, a cloud and artificial intelligence solutions provider.

$Rigetti Computing (RGTI.US)$ shares jumped 16% after the company announced the public launch of its 84-qubit Ankaa-3 system, the company's latest flagship quantum computer.

$Honda Motor (HMC.US)$ shares closed out 12% higher on Monday after the company confirmed its merger plans with $Nissan Motor (ADR) (NSANY.US)$ . 

$Broadcom (AVGO.US)$ rose 5.5% to $231.63, leading the S&P 500. The chipmaker’s shares are up 107% this year and 40% in the past month. Jefferies analyst Blayne Curtis raised his price target to $300 from $225, maintaining a Buy recommendation as Broadcom's market cap surpasses $1 trillion.

$Nordstrom (JWN.US)$ said Monday that it would be taken private after agreeing to be acquired by members of the Nordstrom family and a Mexican department store company. Shares closed down 1.5% lower.

$Walmart (WMT.US)$ stock fell more than 2% lower Monday after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it was suing the retailer and its fintech partner, Branch Messenger, for illegally opening deposit accounts for more than one million delivery drivers. 

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