Stock Market Today: Microsoft Gains Boost Stock Market
The blue chip stock popped on news the software giant has snagged OpenAI's ousted CEO to help lead an advanced AI research team.
![closeup of stock market chart with white bars and blue volume bars](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tWW7Aueob7EXEgkS54qvEi-415-80.jpg)
Stocks closed higher Monday, building on their impressive November gains. There was little in the way of economic news to start the holiday-shortened week, but market participants had plenty of single-stock headlines to track – including a notable analyst note for Wall Street's newest semiconductor stock.
This morning, Wells Fargo analyst Gary Mobley initiated coverage on Arm Holdings (ARM) with an Overweight rating, which is the equivalent of a Buy. "We view ARM as one of the best positioned companies within the $550 billion global semiconductor industry," Mobley says. Among the things that Arm is "well-positioned to benefit" from are China's developing domestic chip industry and higher royalty rates the company can charge for newer-generation chips.
Mobley isn't alone in his bullish outlook for Arm stock, which held its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) back in September. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, 19 analysts have a Buy or Strong Buy rating on the chipmaker, compared to eight holds, one Sell and one Strong Sell.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hwgJ7osrMtUWhk5koeVme7-200-80.png](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hwgJ7osrMtUWhk5koeVme7-320-80.png)
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
Arm shares surged 6.7% Monday, with fellow chipmakers Intel (INTC, +2.1%) and Broadcom (AVGO, +1.8%) also gaining ground. Nvidia (NVDA) was another industry winner, rising 2.3% ahead of its Tuesday night turn on the earnings calendar.
Microsoft pops after snagging ousted OpenAI CEO
In other equities news, mega-cap stock Microsoft (MSFT) jumped 2.1% after the company said it is bringing Sam Altman on board to head a new advanced artificial intelligence (AI) research team. In a startling move, Altman was fired as CEO of Microsoft-backed OpenAI on Friday and efforts over the weekend to reinstate him in the role failed. Altman, who is one of OpenAI's co-founders, chose instead to join the software giant.
"We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. The executive added that Microsoft looks forward "to moving quickly to provide" Altman and fellow OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman "with the resources needed for their success."
Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan calls this a "win-win" for Microsoft, "as it still has full access to the best large language models (LLMs) and now the team to possibly make the next great LLM and the best AI minds in the world to help implement AI." Horan has an Outperform (Buy) rating on the Dow Jones stock.
As for the major indexes, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1% to 14,284, the broader S&P 500 gained 0.7% to 4,547, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.6% at 35,151.
As a reminder, the stock and bond markets will be closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and will close early on Black Friday.
Related content
Get Kiplinger Today newsletter — free
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.
With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.
-
If You're the Millionaire Next Door, You May Be a Terrible Spender
Good job on all that great saving. Now you need to start spending some of that hard-earned retirement savings on the things you love.
By Joe F. Schmitz Jr., CFP®, ChFC® Published
-
Who Will Be the Beneficiaries of Your Wealth?
Deciding who you want to inherit your wealth, as well as when and how, is a crucial first step in estate planning. Here are the four beneficiaries to keep in mind.
By Adam Frank Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Tumble on Disappointing Big Tech Earnings
Poorly received quarterly results from Alphabet and Tesla sparked a steep selloff in equities.
By Dan Burrows Last updated
-
Stock Market Today: Mega-Cap Tech Rallies to Drag Markets Higher
Markets focused on upcoming earnings from Magnificent 7 stocks rather than chaos in D.C.
By Dan Burrows Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Tumble After Spectacular Global Internet Crash
Market participants rushed out of risk assets to end a wild week of trading.
By Dan Burrows Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow Sinks 533 Points as Big Banks, Mega Caps Slump
Goldman Sachs and Apple were two of the worst-performing blue chip stocks on Thursday.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Semis Get Slammed and Blue Chips Bounce
The potential for more curbs on tech sales to China set off a rotation into blue chips.
By Dan Burrows Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow Spikes 742 Points After UnitedHealth Earnings
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also scored wins Tuesday albeit with much smaller gains than the blue chip Dow.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow Adds 210 Points as Apple, Goldman Hit New Highs
A big rally in blue chips and some dovish Fed speak boosted the equities market Monday.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Markets Bounce Back on Rate-Cut Optimism
The latest readings on consumer sentiment and inflation helped lift the odds of the Fed easing in September.
By Dan Burrows Published