Stocks rose higher on Monday as the market's postelection rally continued. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed over 300 points to close above 44,000 for the first time, while the S&P 500 added 0.1% to surpass the key 6,000 threshold. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, however, traded around its flatline as megacap tech names ticked lower by session end.
Here's how the market settled on Monday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.10% or +5.81 points to 6,001.35
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.69% or +304.14 points to 44,293.13
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.06% or +11.99 points to 19,298.76
In Focus:
Oppenheimer Asset Management chief investment strategist John Stoltzfus wrote in a note to clients on Monday that market participants should not get lost in postelection optimism as the broader market continues to rally on President-elect Donald Trump's victory.
"In our view, investors could well benefit from practicing patience and avoiding jumping to conclusions as to how the election outcome will affect the markets," Stoltzfus wrote. "we favor broad diversification tuned more to cyclical and secular trends that remain in place for now rather than 'betting' on the shape of things to come as a direct result of the elections that just took place."
In the News:
Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT) shares came under pressure on Monday on news the toy maker was forced to pull its line of "Wicked" character dolls after a package misprint that directed consumers to an adult website instead of the Universal Pictures' (NASDAQ: CMCSA) "Wicked" movie promotional site. Retailers including Target (NYSE: TGT), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Macy's (NYSE: M) and Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) have reportedly removed the dolls from their online storefronts as of midday Monday.
"Mattel was made aware of a misprint on the packaging of the Mattel Wicked collection dolls, primarily sold in the U.S., which was intended to direct consumers to the official WickedMovie.com landing page," Mattel said in a statement. "We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this. Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children."
Cigna Group (NYSE: CI) announced Monday it is no longer pursuing deal with Humana (NYSE: HUM), writing in a statement that it "remains committed to its established M&A criteria and would only consider acquisitions that are strategically aligned, financially attractive and have a high probability to close."
Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) named Scott Boatwright as permanent Cheif Effective Officer of the fast-casual food chain on Monday, in a widely expected move post Brian Niccol's exit to lead Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) earlier this year.
"Boatwright was by far the most logical choice given his instrumental role in leading Chipotle's efforts to improve operations, integrate new technology, reduce employee turnover, and bolster customer satisfaction," said William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia in a note on Monday.
Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring raised the firm's price target on Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) to $154 from $136 on Monday, implying a 15% potential upside. The bank also reiterated its Overweight rating on the computer manufacturer, citing the company's positive server momentum and artificial intelligence tailwinds as its AI server outlook is expected rise to $20 billion in 2026.
"While our 3Q24 CIO Survey showed that DELL is the best-positioned hardware vendor to capture traditional enterprise spend over the next 3 years, our recent AI server checks show that DELL's AI infrastructure momentum is building even faster," Woodring wrote. "In fact, we now estimate DELL will ship 48K 8-GPU AI server equivalents in FY26/CY25, equivalent to 23% Y?Y growth, with our new FY26 AI Server revenue forecast now standing at just over $20B, -60% higher than our prior forecast and a few billion dollars above the buyside Consensus."
For Tuesday:
Market participants will react to more Fedspeak on Tuesday, alongside earnings reports from companies including Home Depot (NYSE: HD), AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) and Shopify (NYSE: SHOP).