The technology sector and other tech-related stocks showed signs of life on an otherwise slow Monday, and a small afternoon burst helped the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 rewrite the record books.
Foremost on investors' minds is likely the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which starts tomorrow and will conclude Wednesday.
"Markets will focus on the Fed's policy meeting this week as investors watch for the central bank's reaction to strong inflation prints in recent months," say BlackRock Investment Institute strategists. "We advocate looking through near-term market volatility and remain pro-risk, predicated on our belief that the Fed faces a very high bar to change its easy monetary policy stance."
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Tech stocks were the best of a mixed bunch today. Adobe (ADBE, +2.9%), which reports earnings later this week, as well as Apple (AAPL, +2.5%) and Netflix (NFLX, +2.3%), lifted the Nasdaq 0.7% to 14,174, helping it eclipse its previous closing high set on April 26. The S&P 500 also finished with a new record, albeit with just a meager 0.2% gain to 4,255.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, finished off 0.3% to 34,393, weighed down by JPMorgan Chase (JPM, -1.7%) and Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA, -1.6%).
Other action in the stock market today:
- The small-cap Russell 2000 declined 0.5% to 2,324.
- Lordstown Motors (RIDE, -18.8%) took it on the chin after the electric truck maker said its CEO and chief financial officer have both resigned. Just last week, RIDE warned that it was running low on cash and could be forced to close down.
- Meme stocks stayed volatile today, though the price action was mixed. Among the notable gainers were movie theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC, +15.4%) and gaming components maker Corsair Gaming (CRSR, +11.3%). On the flip side, video game retailer GameStop (GME, -1.7%) and Medicare Advantage insurer Clover Health Investments (CLOV, -2.5%) ended in the red.
- U.S. crude oil futures ended with a marginal loss at $70.88 per barrel.
- Gold futures slipped 0.7% to settle at $1,865.90 an ounce.
- The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) gained 4.6% to 16.37.
- Bitcoin jumped 6.6% from last Friday's prices to $39,724.33. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day.)
Get Ready for Some New Stocks
This week will be fun if you enjoy shiny new things.
Investment bankers are busy making final preparations for a wave of initial public offerings (IPOs). Fifteen companies are expected to make their public debuts sometime this week, including Israeli customer engagement platform provider WalkMe and a gaggle of biotechnology stocks and other healthcare-related firms.
As we've previously warned, investors should be cautious about new-company valuations amid what has become a frothy market for IPOs. But investors looking for "the next big thing" often find it in these fresh-faced stocks, so it pays to pay attention to what's coming down the pike. You can do that with our list of the market's highest-profile upcoming IPOs, frequently (and recently) updated by IPO expert Tom Taulli.
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