The stock market started the week higher today with gains across the board. The Dow 30 was higher by 89, the S&P 500 added 6, and the Nasdaq 100 gained 4 on the day. With Washington quiet and stocks mostly calm, the market was able to focus on the positives, like M&A and earnings, both of which helped support stocks all day. The S&P has now come within 1% of its all time highs with the Nasdaq 100 slightly behind that, with 1.5% left to go.
Market followers will note that the market will possibly hit a new record on Wednesday as the longest running bull market in history. SInce 2009, the S&P 500 has gained over 300%. Unless there is a substantial decline in the next few days, that will be the record.
SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA) was the big news today as the company was bought by PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) for $3.2 billion in all cash, coming out to $144 per share. Since reporting earnings last month the stock has now gained over 65% headed into this buyout news. Pepsi shares were mostly unchanged on the news.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares sold off more today as news came out that the Saudis, originally speculated as a potential source of financing for taking Tesla private, were actually working on a possible investment in Tesla's rival, Lucid. In addition JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) cut their price target from $308 to $195, a 36% drop, stating that the process to take the company private was not as far along as they initially thought when Musk tweeted "Funding Secured" two weeks ago.
Nike (NYSE: NKE) shares blasted to new highs today as the company was upgraded by a well known analyst at Piper Jaffray. The analyst upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral, citing more efficiency in their inventory and innovative product pipeline. Since the start of the summer, Nike is higher by 15%. This also helped support retail stocks on the day.