A widespread rally in technology and tech-esque stocks started Wall Street's week off on the right foot.
Monday opened with a splash, with Twitter (TWTR, +27.1%) shares booming on news that Tesla (TSLA, +5.6%) CEO Elon Musk was taking a massive 9.2% stake in the stock.
While the move swirled up conversation about what Musk might do next – he has previously criticized both the social media platform and its current chief, Parag Agrawal – it was nonetheless also seen as a clear catalyst for the communication services firm's long-underperforming shares.
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Also booming were numerous large-cap tech companies such as semiconductor stock Qualcomm (QCOM, +4.6%) and software names Salesforce (CRM, +3.1%) and Intuit (INTU, +4.5%).
The surge in tech and communications names boosted the Nasdaq 1.9% higher to 14,532, while the S&P 500 (+0.8% to 4,582) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.3% to 34,921) were more modestly in the green.
While Monday's advance was otherwise short on catalysts, Lindsey Bell, chief markets and money strategist for Ally Invest, points to a potential driver of additional second-quarter gains.
"What many people aren't talking about is the underappreciated opportunity the consumer presents," she says. "The job market is strong and excess cash has allowed consumers to absorb higher pricing. Companies and corporate profits have benefitted. I'm expecting earnings season will surprise the consensus, which expects guidance to fall significantly."
Other news in the stock market today:
- The small-cap Russell 2000 improved 0.2% to 2,095.
- Fresh calls from Europe for harsher sanctions on Russia sent U.S. crude futures (+4.0% to $103.28 per barrel) back above the $100 mark.
- Gold futures climbed 0.5% to $1,934.00 per ounce.
- Bitcoin slid 1.0% to $45,923.33. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m.)
- Starbucks (SBUX, -3.7%) declined against the grain after interim CEO Howard Schultz announced the company would suspend share buybacks. “This decision will allow us to invest more profit into our people and our stores — the only way to create long-term value for all stakeholders,” said Schultz, who enters the company at a time where several locations have begun to unionize. Investors should note that SBUX did not repurchase any shares last year but had previously pledged $20 million toward both its dividend program (which will remain intact) and buybacks through 2024.
Rising Rates? These Stocks Don't Sweat 'Em
In a couple of days we'll get more clarity on the Federal Reserve's upcoming tightening measures.
"The big catalyst for this week is the Fed minutes on Wednesday afternoon, which is expected to shed some light on the balance sheet reduction process," says Michael Reinking, senior market strategist for the New York Stock Exchange. "There is still some uncertainty as to how aggressively Fed officials want to kick off this process.
"As I've laid out previously I'm looking for an initial announcement to start in the $60 billion to $85 billion range, which is less than some of the more aggressive projections out there."
From there, the market is likely to revert its focus back to the Fed's benchmark interest rate, which the central bank is expected to hike several more times this year. The exact number of increases (and their velocity) is still up in the air, but investors continue to tweak their portfolios to absorb more interest-rate pain – and in many cases, profit off it.
For instance, these seven exchange-traded funds (ETFs) hold either assets that are largely immune to rising rates or actually feed off it. But investors looking to make a more aggressive, concentrated bet to benefit from the Federal Reserve's expected hawkishness might do better in individual stocks.
Here, we look at 10 of the best stocks amid tighter monetary policy in 2022.
Kyle Woodley was long CRM as of this writing.
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