Wall Street Today: S&P 500 and DJIA Close at Records as WMT and CRWV Gains Outweigh AXP and V Losses
The S&P 500 and Dow-30 hit new closing highs Monday, while the Nasdaq Composite rose as well as strength for big caps like Walmart and CoreWeave outweighed weakness for credit-card giants American Express and Visa.
The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ gained 10.99 points (0.2%) to a 6,977.27 best-ever finish, surpassing its previous record set just last Friday.
The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ likewise added 86.13 ticks (0.2%) to a 49,590.20 all-time-high ending, again edging out its former best-ever finish reached on Friday.
Both indexes also set new all-time intraday highs as well during the session.
Meanwhile, the $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ added 62.56 points (0.3%) to 23,733.90, just 0.9% below its best-ever closing set on Oct. 29.
Macro
The key indexes rose as strength for select large-cap tech and non-tech stocks reversed earlier market weakness on word the U.S. government is investigating Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over his testimony last June before Congress.
Powell disclosed the investigation on Sunday, which allegedly centers on what he told Congress about a controversial multi-billion-dollar renovation of the central bank's Washington headquarters.
However, the Fed chair dismissed such concerns as "pretexts" and accused U.S. President Donald Trump of attempting to intimidate the central bank into lowering rates. Trump has been pressing the bank to sharply cut rates for months.
"The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president," Powell said in his statement.
Word of possible charges against Powell sent $Gold (LIST2110.US)$ and $Silver (LIST2093.US)$ to record highs on fears that the Fed will lose its independence to set rates high enough to control inflation.
Precious metals are a traditional hedge against U.S. inflation and any U.S. dollar weakness that excessively low rates could cause.
$Gold Futures (APR6) (GCmain.US)$ rose as much as 3.1% to a $4,640.50-an-ounce intraday record following the Powell news, while $Silver Futures (MAY6) (SImain.US)$ added 8.8% at their peak to an $86.34-an-ounce all-time intraday high.
Similarly, major cryptocurrencies mostly rose in an apparent move by some investors to use them as a hedge against any potential future dollar weakness.
$Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ gained 1% to $91,374.48 as of shortly before 4:15 p.m. New York time, while $Solana (SOL.CC)$added 1.3% to $139.92. However, $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$ lost 0.1% to $3,102.31 after trading higher earlier in the session, while $Ripple (XRP.CC)$was unchanged at $2.06.
Meanwhile, Dow components $American Express (AXP.US)$ (down 4.3%) and $Visa (V.US)$ (1.9% lower) fell on Trump's disclosure Friday on social media that he wants to cap credit-card interest at a 10% rate. Both are major credit-card issuers.
Still, strength in select tech stocks like $CoreWeave (CRWV.US)$ (up 12.2%), $NEBIUS (NBIS.US)$ (9.6% higher), $Oracle (ORCL.US)$ (3.1% better), $SanDisk (SNDK.US)$ (3.1% stronger), $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ (2.2% higher) and $Broadcom (AVGO.US)$ (2.1% firmer) gave the market enough of a positive tone to overcome such decliners.
Beyond tech, Dow component $Walmart (WMT.US)$ (3% better) rose on word of a deal to integrate its merchandise with Gemini, the AI assistant owned by $Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$. Walmart also benefited from news that it's joining the $NASDAQ 100 Index (.NDX.US)$.
Moo-vers
Meanwhile, the "Magnificent Seven" stocks ended Monday's session mostly higher.
Four Mag-7 names rose – $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ (up 1%), $Tesla (TSLA.US)$(0.9% better), $Apple (AAPL.US)$(0.3% stronger) and $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ (0.1% firmer).
In fact, Alphabet hit a $334.04 all-time high during the session, taking its market capitalization above $4 trillion for the first time ever.
Only three other companies – $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$, $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ and $Apple (AAPL.US)$– have ever topped $4 trillion, with MSFT and AAPL later pulling back below that level.
Separately, three Mag-7 stocks fell on Monday: $Meta Platforms (META.US)$ (off 1.7%), $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ (0.44% weaker) and $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ (off 0.35%).
Elsewhere on Wall Street, the day's significant percentage decliners included:
-- Select space stocks, which have been mostly rising but swinging up and down over the past roughly 3-1/2 weeks. Monday's decliners included $Sidus Space (SIDU.US)$ (off 15%) and $Redwire (RDW.US)$ (2.9% lower).
-- $Duolingo (DUOL.US)$, down 8.5%. The language-learning platform fell on news that well-regarded CFO Matt Skaruppa is stepping down after six years.
Conversely, Monday's major percentage gainers included:
-- $Alibaba (BABA.US)$, up 10.2%. The Chinese online-retailing giant rose amid general gains for U.S.-listed Chinese stocks, coupled with recent positive commentary from J.P. Morgan.
-- Certain crypto-related stocks, which rose in part on Bitcoin's gains. Winners included $IREN Ltd (IREN.US)$ (up 9.3%), $Strategy (MSTR.US)$ (3.1% better), $Robinhood (HOOD.US)$ (2% stronger) and $Coinbase (COIN.US)$ (which added 0.9%).
Disclaimer: This presentation is for informational and educational use only and is not a recommendation or endorsement of any particular investment or investment strategy. Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be directly invested in. Past performance is no indication of future results. Investing involves risk and the potential to lose principal. Investment information provided in this content is general in nature, strictly for illustrative purposes, and may not be appropriate for all investors. It is provided without respect to individual investors' financial sophistication, financial situation, investment objectives, investing time horizon, or risk tolerance. You should consider the appropriateness of this information regarding your relevant personal circumstances before making any investment decisions. Past investment performance does not indicate or guarantee future success. Returns will vary, and all investments carry risks, including loss of principal.
Disclaimer: Community is offered by Moomoo Technologies Inc. and is for educational purposes only.
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Jerry Kronenberg
Director of Financial Content
Former top editor at Seeking Alpha, Fidelity.com, TheStreet.com and UPI.
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