Nasdaq closes higher as Tesla rally helps start week on an upbeat note

The Nasdaq Composite rose Monday following a rough week, as Tesla shares surged and Wall Street looked ahead to some major market-moving earnings reports.

The Nasdaq advanced 0.6% to settle at 18,791.81, while the S&P 500 added about 0.4% to close at 5,893.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.39 points, or 0.1%, to finish at 43,389.60.

Tesla spearheaded the tech-heavy index's rally, popping 5.6% amid a Bloomberg News report, citing people familiar with the matter, that President-elect Donald Trump's team is working on ways to ease regulation on self-driving vehicles. Elsewhere, Apple and Netflix gained 1.3% and 2.8%, respectively, while Advanced Micro Devices surged 3%.

Wednesday's report from artificial intelligence chip darling Nvidia remains top of mind for investors, and could serve as the next major catalyst as Wall Street searches for signs of resilient demand for its Blackwell AI chips. Shares slipped 1.3% after The Information reported that the chips overheat when connected in servers, citing sources familiar with the matter.

"The star this week is our friend Nvidia," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners, highlighting its importance to all the key indexes with its recent inclusion in the Dow. "Unless some information comes out before then, the market is going to wait and see what's going on with Nvidia."

Beyond Nvidia, investors await a batch of earnings from key retailers, which could offer greater insight into the health of the economy and consumer spending. About 93% of S&P 500 companies have reported results so far. More than 74% have topped earnings expectations and 62% have surpassed revenue estimates, according to FactSet.

Monday's moves follow a tough week for the three major benchmarks, now off the highs seen in the aftermath of Trump's election victory. That sell-off was driven by concerns about the path for interest rates after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is not "in a hurry" to cut rates given the economy's strong growth and a solid labor market.

In other news, CVS Health shares popped 5% after agreeing to add four new board members. Super Micro Computer skyrocketed about 16% following a Barron's report that the AI server maker intends to file a plan for its annual report to avert a Nasdaq delisting.

Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500 finish higher

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.6% to settle at 18,791.81, while the S&P 500 added about 0.4% to close at 5,893.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.39 points, or 0.1%, to finish at 43,389.60.

— Samantha Subin

Gold is a hedge against Trump tariffs with prices poised to rise in 2025, Goldman says

Goldman Sachs is bullish on gold with Trump's presidential election victory lending further support to prices next year, according to the investment bank.

Gold can provide a safe haven to hedge against the risk of increased tariffs and escalating trade tensions under a second Trump administration, according to the investment bank.

Goldman was already forecasting that gold prices would rise in 2025 as central banks, investors and speculators buy the precious metal on growing global uncertainty.

"Policy uncertainty and recent consolidation provide an attractive entry point for our high-conviction long gold view, with structural support from central bank gold demand and cyclical support from Fed cuts," commodity analysts led by Daan Struyven told clients in a Friday note.

Goldman is forecasting that gold prices will to $2,943 per ounce by the fourth quarter of 2025. Gold was last trading at $2,615 per ounce. The investment bank's forecast would imply upside of more than 12%.

— Spencer Kimball

Fed can be 'patient' due to economic strength, CIO says

One reason the postelection rally for stocks appears to have stalled may be that investors are growing less confident in the rate cut path of the Federal Reserve.

According to the CME FedWatch Tool, trading in the fed funds futures market currently implies a 62.1% likelihood of a rate cut in December. That is down from 65.3% a week ago, and 76.8% a month ago.

Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors, said recent signs of continued strength for the economy could lead to the Fed slowing its pace of cuts.

"It is going to call into question how much more they need to cut, and how quickly. I think that's what they've really been hinting at — that they're going to be patient, they're going to be data dependent, and that could mean a slower pace of rate cuts than either their forecasts have suggested or the market was expecting," Baird said.

Baird added that the effect of the election, such as the potential for higher tariffs under President-elect Donald Trump, "exacerbate" those questions about how much the Fed will cut.

— Jesse Pound

From the vault: The launch day of GLD, the first gold ETF

Monday marks the 20th anniversary of SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), the first gold exchange-traded fund. The fund has proven to be a mainstay of American investing, now with more than $70 billion in assets.

CNBC's Bob Pisani was on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange the day the fund debuted, along with some big pieces of the yellow metal itself.

Take a look back at how CNBC covered that moment in 2004.

— Jesse Pound

Disney heads for first down day since presidential election

Disney shares fell on Monday, placing the entertainment titan on track to see its first negative session since before the presidential election. It would also snap a winning streak with a length not seen in more than half a decade.

The media company's shares slipped just over 1%. That would mark its first red day since Nov. 4, or the eve of the U.S. election that was ultimately won by Trump.

If Monday's slide holds through the closing bell, it would bring an end to a nine-day positive streak. Disney has not seen that many winning trading days in a row since a rally that concluded in July 2018.

Shares of the California-based company have jumped more than 26% in 2024.

— Alex Harring, Nick Wells

Investors await Nvidia earnings, purchasing managers' index readings

Deutsche Bank is keeping its eye on two potentially market-moving events this week.

The first is Nvidia's earnings report. The company, which has dazzled investors for more than a year as a key artificial intelligence beneficiary, posts its results after the bell on Wednesday.

"Just when you thought it was a good point to have a lie down after a busy few weeks, the biggest global earnings event happens after the bell on Wednesday with $3.48 trillion of market cap at stake," said Jim Reid, head of global economics and thematic research at the bank.

Following that release, he will be watching the global flash purchasing managers' index readings slated for Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the manufacturing index to come in at 48.8, while the services reading should be at 55.

"They may capture some of the initial sentiment impact from around the world regarding Trump's victory," he said. "Europe will be especially interesting on this front as the continent awaits their trade fate."

— Alex Harring

Goldman Sachs and Salesforce account for all of Monday's decline in Dow Industrials

The Dow Jones Industrial Average stands out as a notable laggard versus the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 on Monday, but it is really all the fault of Goldman Sachs and Salesforce.

The dollar decline in the price of Goldman has lopped about 38 points off the DJIA in midday trading, while Salesforce is responsible for more than 24 points.

Were it not for GS and CRM on Monday, the price-weighted Dow would actually be higher.

Salesforce has jumped 22% over the past three months, while Goldman is ahead more than 16%, both of them outperforming the 6% gain in the S&P 500 during the same span.

— Scott Schnipper

Henry Schein shares rally as investors see RFK's anti-fluoride stance boosting dentist visits

Henry Schein shares rallied on Monday as investors bet that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Health and Human Services secretary, could recommend removing fluoride from the U.S. water system.

Shares of Henry Schein jumped about 7%. The bump comes as market participants see Kennedy's focus on taking fluoride out of water actually helping demand in the tooth cleaning industry as customers look elsewhere to fight cavities, according to firm Gordon Haskett.

"The thought here is RFK will bring to HHS a voice that is in favor of reducing, or eliminating, the amount of fluoridation that is added to drinking water," Don Bilson, Gordon Haskett's head of event-driven research, told clients in a Monday note. "This will, in turn, lead to an acceleration of tooth decay and more dental visits."

— Alex Harring

Consumer discretionary leads monthly gains

Consumer discretionary has rallied around 10% in November, making it the best-performing S&P 500 sector during the period.

The sector's gains have been led by Tesla. The electric vehicle maker's shares have soared 36.1% month to date following the Nov. 5 election on CEO Elon Musk's close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump.

Financials and energy are the following top outperformers, up more than 7% each.

Meanwhile, health care is the biggest underperformer and is down 3.4% month to date.

— Hakyung Kim

20 stocks in the S&P 500 trade at new 52-week lows

Twenty stocks in the S&P 500 traded at new 52-week lows on Monday, despite the broad market benchmark rising 0.5%.

Names that hit this milestone included:

• Hershey trading at lows not seen since October 2021
• PepsiCo trading at lows not seen since October 2023
• Walgreens Boots Alliance trading at lows not seen since September 1996
• Biogen trading at lows not seen since March 2013
• Centene trading at lows not seen since February 2021
• Enphase Energy trading at lows not seen since July 2020

On the other hand, 20 stocks in the benchmark also hit new 52-week highs on Monday. These tickers included:

• Live Nation Entertainment trading at all-time-high levels back to its initial public offering in December 2005
• Netflix trading at all-time-high levels back to its IPO in May 2002
• AT&T trading at levels not seen since May 2021
• Bank of America trading at levels not seen since February 2022
• Morgan Stanley trading at all-time highs back to its merger with Dean Witter, Discover & Co. in 1997
• Vistra trading at all-time highs back through our history to September 2016

— Lisa Kailai Han, Christopher Hayes

Stocks on the move midday

Check out some of the companies making headlines in midday trading:

• Spirit Airlines — Trading in shares of the discount airline was halted on Monday after Spirit filed for bankruptcy.
• Trump Media & Technology Group — Shares in President-elect Donald Trump's media company pulled back roughly 5%. Although the stock has been increasingly volatile in the wake of Trump's election, it has gained more than 52% in 2024.
• Liberty Energy, Oklo — Stock in Liberty Energy gained about 5% after President-elect Donald Trump selected CEO Chris Wright as his incoming energy secretary. Shares of nuclear company Oklo, where Wright is a board member, advanced more than 20%.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Investors are adding gold, led by millennials, according to State Street survey

The number of high net worth investors who have exposure to gold has risen significantly since last year, according to a survey by State Street.

"The number of HNW investors who said they currently have gold in their investment portfolios increased significantly over the past 15 months — jumping from 20% to 38%. And among this segment, the average gold allocation has grown from 14% to 21%," the firm said in a new survey that looked at 1,502 high net worth investors, as well as smaller investors and financial advisors.

Among different age cohorts, millennials appear more interested in gold than Gen X and baby boomer investors, according to the study.

The two major State Street gold funds, the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust (GLDM), have seen $1.7 billion in net flows combined over the past year, according to FactSet. This week is the 20th anniversary of the launch of GLD, which now has more than $70 billion in assets under management.

— Jesse Pound

Long-term investors should look to buy the dip in biopharma stocks, JPMorgan says

The recent slide for biopharma stocks could be a good buying opportunity for patient investors, according to JPMorgan.

Analyst Chris Schott said in a note to clients that a sell-off, due in part to concerns about the effect of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s proposed leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services, looks overdone.

"Admittedly this cloud of uncertainty could persist for some time but the Large Cap Biopharma group now trades at a ~35% discount to the S&P 500 (45-50% ex LLY) and we think the potential for upside (less sweeping changes than all the theorized risks that are currently being priced in) outweighs the potential for additional downside, especially for longer term investors," the note said.

— Jesse Pound

Health-care ETF flirts with sixth straight negative day

The SPDR Health Care Sector Fund (XLV) could see its longest losing streak since July.

The exchange-traded fund ticked lower by about 0.2% in morning trading. Monday could mark a sixth straight negative day, which would be its longest period of straight losses since July.

This slide has also put the fund on pace to notch its third negative month in a row. That would be the longest streak of losing months since October 2023.

— Alex Harring, Nick Wells

RFK Jr.'s policies could hurt Kellogg and Pepsi, says Bernstein

WK Kellogg and PepsiCo could feel some pain if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becomes the next Health and Human Services secretary, according to Bernstein.

Kennedy, nominated by President-elect Donald Trump for the job last week, has promised to reduce the use of food dye as part of his "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. Both Kellogg and PepsiCo are the most exposed to any legislation targeting that reduction, said Bernstein analyst Alexia Howard.

"Mr. Kennedy expressed an interest in reducing the use of synthetic dyes (such as Red 40, Yellow 5, and Blue 1), which are already restricted in use within Europe," she wrote in a note Monday.

"Food and beverage companies such as PepsiCo (Doritos, Cheetos, Cap'n, Crunch, etc.), WK Kellogg (Froot Loops), General Mills (Lucky Charms), Kraft Heinz (Kool-Aid and Jell-O) and to a lesser extent Hershey (Jolly Ranchers) use dyes within their products," she added. "Synthetic dyes are also commonly used within beverage products."

Kennedy's appointment has to be approved by the Senate. The Department of Health and Human Services oversees the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among dozens of federal agencies.

— Michelle Fox

Nasdaq opens slightly higher

The Nasdaq Composite opened slightly higher Monday, adding 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 105 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P 500 hovered near the flatline.

— Samantha Subin

Liberty Energy, Oklo stocks jump after Trump picks Chris Wright as energy secretary

Shares of Liberty Energy and Oklo rose on Monday after President-elect Donald Trump picked Chris Wright as the next energy secretary of the U.S.

Wright is the CEO of oilfield services company Liberty and serves on the board at nuclear startup Oklo. Liberty jumped more than 5% in premarket trading while Oklo was up more than 9%.

— Spencer Kimball

Stocks on the move before the bell

These are the stocks making the biggest moves before the bell:

• Tesla — The electric vehicle maker jumped 6% after Bloomberg News reported President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is planning to make a national regulatory framework for self-driving vehicles a top priority for the U.S. Transportation Department. 
• Spirit Airlines — Shares of the struggling airline were halted on Monday after the company filed for bankruptcy protection. The stock is down more than 90% year to date and closed at just $1.08 per share on Friday. The stock rose 2.8% when trading resumed.
• Liberty Energy, Oklo — Shares of Liberty Energy rose 5% after Trump picked CEO Chris Wright as energy secretary. Shares of nuclear startup Oklo, where Wright also serves as a board member, surged almost 9%.

Read the full list here.

— Hakyung Kim

Wells Fargo upgrades CVS in the wake of Trump's win

An evolving regulatory landscape in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's win could mean gains for CVS, according to Wells Fargo.

Shares gained nearly 2% after analyst Stephen Baxter upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight and upped his price target, which now reflects around 24% upside from Friday's close. This comes as the stock has fallen more than 32% in 2024.

Following the election, Baxter sees an improving risk/reward profile for Medicare Advantage specifically and believes that should happen through pricing and benefit changes.

"We expect a better reimbursement environment under Republicans than we have seen during the Biden Administration," the analyst told clients on Monday. "Rates that more closely resemble underlying trend and an absence of new headwinds would be a good start."

Along with that, Baxter believes the negative consequences of Aetna's "aggressive" growth strategies may have peaked, creating a "compelling" buying opportunity for investors.

— Sean Conlon

Goldman says sell Redfin, sees more than 20% downside ahead

Redfin may be due for some pullback over the coming months, according to Goldman Sachs.

Shares slumped nearly 5% in the premarket after analyst Michael Ng downgraded the real estate name to sell from neutral. His updated price target implies 22.3% downside from Friday's close.

"We believe there are more attractive alternatives to allocate capital towards in the real estate technology space as 1) Redfin's differentiation as a discount brokerage should lessen amidst negative buyside agent commission pressure, and 2) it sees greater competition within the Rentals space from better capitalized competitors with larger inventories online," the analyst said.

Among those competitors, Ng cited Zillow's rentals momentum specifically as a threat to Redfin's business. Additionally, while the analyst believes Redfin could be a beneficiary of volume recovery in the U.S. housing market, he noted that existing home sales in the country have been "stagnant."

This year, the stock has had a tough run, posting year-to-date losses of about 19%.

— Sean Conlon

Nvidia shares fall following report of Blackwell chips overheating in servers

Shares of Nvidia fell more than 2% in the premarket after The Information, citing people with knowledge of the matter, reported that the chip giant's next-generation Blackwell chips are facing problems with overheating in its server racks.

This year, the stock has soared more than 186%.

— Sean Conlon

Tesla surges on report Trump wants to curb U.S. self-driving rules

Tesla shares were up 8% in the premarket after Bloomberg News, citing sources, reported Donald Trump's transition team is working on ways to relax regulation on self-driving vehicles.

— Fred Imbert

European markets mixed as trading begins

European markets were mixed as the trading week kicked off on Monday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 down 0.07% shortly after the session opened.

Oil and gas and tech stocks dipped around 0.3% each, while mining shares added around 0.5%.

Regional bourses were mixed, with the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX inching higher, while France's CAC 40 retreated slightly and Italy's FTSE MIB fell close to 1%.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Asia markets mixed as investors await China LPR, Japan inflation data this week

Asia markets were mixed on Monday as markets look toward data from Japan and China later in the week.

Key data this week from Asia will include China's loan prime rate, set to be released Wednesday.

Japan will release trade data on Wednesday and October headline inflation numbers on Friday, while Australia's central bank on Tuesday will release minutes of its meeting earlier this month.

South Korea's Kospi rose 2.16% and ended at 2,469.07, leading gains in Asia, and powered by a 5.98% rise in heavyweight Samsung Electronics.

In contrast, Japan's Nikkei 225 ended down 1.09% and closed at 38,220.85, while the broad-based Topix was 0.73% lower at 2,691.76.

— Lim Hui Jie

Bank of America raises its 2025 price target to 6,000, says market is 'statistically expensive'

Bank of America updated its year-end S&P 500 target to 6,000.

"Overall, we see limited near-term upside to the cap-weighted S&P 500 and prefer the equal-weighted index, but our bear market signposts — the triggers that typically precede an S&P 500 peak — are not signaling elevated risks of an imminent bear market," analyst Savita Subramanian said in a Friday note to clients, adding that the broad market index is still "statistically expensive on almost every metric."

Still, Subramanian said the S&P 500 is higher quality, less levered and more asset light compared to prior decades, suggesting Wall Street's forecasts on its return based on its current premium are "likely too punitive."

With long-term growth expectations on megacap tech at a record high, the firm sees potential for a market rotation into cyclicals and high dividend-yielding stocks, particularly as it said a Donald Trump administration supports an increase in U.S. GDP growth and potentially in inflation.

The S&P 500 ended last week down 1.3% at 5,870.62 points.

— Pia Singh

Stock futures open little changed to start the week

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 6 points, trading just above flat. S&P futures added less than 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1%.

— Pia Singh