Stocks were mixed Monday as Wall Street awaits major earnings reports this week and monitors the state of the postelection rally.
The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3%, as Tesla gained 7%. The electric vehicle maker rose after Bloomberg News reported, citing sources, that President-elect Donald Trump’s team is working on ways to ease regulation on self-driving vehicles.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 60 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 edged up 0.1%.
Monday’s move follow a tough week for the three major benchmarks, which are now off the highs seen in the aftermath of Trump’s election victory. The Dow lost 1.2% last week to close at 43,444.99 points, after briefly surging past 44,000 for the first time. The S&P 500 slipped 2.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 3.2%.
Concerns about the path of interest rates continue to weigh on investors’ minds, particularly after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday that the central bank is not “in a hurry” to cut rates given the economy’s strong growth and a solid labor market — which drove last week’s sell-off. Most investors are now pricing in a year-end overnight lending rate in the range of 4.25% to 4.50%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
The next major catalyst for the market this week will be Nvidia earnings, which are set to be released on Wednesday. Traders will be watching for guidance about the company’s demand for its Blackwell AI chips.
Nvidia shares were down nearly 3% after The Information reported, citing sources, that the company’s Blackwell chips overheat when connected together in servers. CVS Health added about 3% after adding four new board positions.
Earnings from Palo Alto Networks and several major retailers, including Walmart, Target and Ross, are also on deck this week. So far, with 93% of S&P 500 companies reporting results, three-quarters of them have reported a positive EPS surprise and 61% have reported a positive revenue surprise, according to a Friday note from FactSet’s John Butters.
