Stock Market Today: Stocks Close Lower on Cyber Monday
The main indexes were choppy to start the week, though several e-commerce stocks jumped on encouraging online holiday shopping numbers.
![closeup of blue stock chart on personal computer](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xki5UA9koMmtEcWN6RYTDK-415-80.jpg)
It was a low-key start to the week for stocks. But while today's price action was muted, there is plenty of activity occurring later this week that could spark big moves for stocks.
The main indexes chopped between positive and negative territory throughout the session. At the close, the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.07% at 14,241, the S&P 500 was off 0.2% at 4,550, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2% lower at 35,333.
Today's price action "suggests a market that is digesting four weeks of gains and focused on a week of important Fedspeak and a host of key economic data, particularly the release of the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price (PCE) index, which could have an important impact on interest rates," says Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial.
![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.
Fed's favorite inflation data will be released Thursday
The PCE index is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation and the October data will be released Thursday morning. Market participants are especially keen to see the results of this report, especially in the wake of the October Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI), which showed inflation is easing.
That data has helped fuel a major rally in stocks this month as the "market appears to have embraced the idea that slowing economic data will hasten the arrival of market-friendly rate cuts, even though the Fed has continued to telegraph otherwise," says Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley.
Indeed, futures traders are pricing in a 42% chance of a quarter-point rate cut in May, according to CME Group. However, the Fed's most recent dot plot indicated that most members support higher-for-longer interest rates.
Wall Street will watch for more hints on interest rates when Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks Friday morning. "If he dishes out dovish comments, investors may finish the week by enthusiastically stocking up on equities and bonds," says José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers. However, Powell runs the risk of disappointing investors if he keeps the door open for more rate hikes," Torres adds.
Shopify stock sizzles on "epic" Black Friday sales
Higher prices didn't keep consumers from spending big this Black Friday. According to Adobe Analytics, online shoppers spent a record-high $9.8 billion, up 7.5% year-over-year, on the biggest shopping day of the year. Adobe expects another $12 billion in online sales will happen on Cyber Monday (which is today).
One beneficiary of these booming online sales is e-commerce merchant platform Shopify (SHOP). The company said its merchants saw a combined $4.1 billion in global Black Friday sales, up 22% year-over-year. "Another epic, record-breaking Black Friday in the books for Shopify merchants," said Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify, in a press release. "The world showed up for our merchants, and the excitement is only building, with Cyber Monday still to come."
Shares of Shopify jumped 4.9% Monday, but then SHOP investors are used to this sort of action by now. The growth stock is up more than 112% in 2023 and is now trading at its highest level since March 2022. E-commerce stocks Amazon.com (AMZN, +0.7%) and MercadoLibre (MELI, +4.2%) also enjoyed notable gains today.
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.
-
Visa Is the Worst Dow Stock Wednesday. Here's Why
Visa stock is down sharply Wednesday after the credit card company came up short of revenue expectations for its fiscal Q3.
By Joey Solitro Published
-
Another Analyst Moves to the Sidelines on Tesla Stock After Earnings
Tesla stock is spiraling Wednesday after the EV maker's big earnings miss and Wall Street has been quick to weigh in. Here's what you need to know.
By Joey Solitro 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