The Dow Jones Industrial Average seemed to be in the shadow of the total solar eclipse on Monday. It looks like investors are waiting for this week’s inflation data. A report on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is due on Wednesday, and will help the Fed decide when and by how much to cut interest rates.
The Dow rose less than 0.1% to 38,940 on Monday. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite each rose abut 0.1%
Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note increased to 4.44% on Monday, up from the previous week. This is a good sign, as an increase in yield indicates that investors prefer higher-risk and higher-reward investments.
Amazon nears its all-time high
Amazon stock rose as high as $187.29 per share on Monday, hitting a 52-week intraday high and raising the possibility that the e-commerce giant could close at a new record.
The stock had given back early gains by mid-afternoon and was up just slightly, trading just above $185 per share. Its record close was $186.57 per share in July 2021. The stock gains come as Amazon has made big bets on generative artificial intelligence and has cut costs with layoffs across its Amazon Web Services cloud division.
Trump Media drops 10%
Trump Media & Technology Group stock plunged another 10% on Monday, hitting new lows as the shares continued their free fall from opening-week highs.
Shares of Trump Media, the company behind former President Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social, were trading at $36.37 late Monday afternoon — down more than $40 from a high of $79.38 per share on the stock’s opening day on the public markets. The fall has left the company’s market capitalization hovering around $5 billion, down from highs of more than $8 billion during its first trading week.
All eyes on Tesla’s self-driving car
In his latest promise to investors and fans, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that a self-driving Tesla would debut on August 8.
The announcement came as Tesla shares were sinking in the wake of a Reuters report that Musk abandoned his long-promised affordable EV in favor of going all-in on the similarly long-promised robotaxi.
Tesla shares, which have been on the decline since Jan. 1, falling as much as 33% year-to-date, were revived on Monday by jumping over 5%. By late afternoon the stock was trading around $173.
Crypto stocks roars on Bitcoin halving
Cryptocurrency-related stocks like Coinbase and MicroStrategy jumped on Monday as Bitcoin’s price reached $72,000, with the highly-anticipated Bitcoin “halving” event on the horizon. The flagship cryptocurrency, which has experienced a rollercoaster ride of price corrections and continuous outflows of funds from spot Bitcoin ETFs, seems ready to take a leap. Bitcoin is just 2.7% away from its record high of $73,737, which it hit in March.
At time of writing, Coinbase and MicroStrategy stocks were up 7.75% and 5.9%, respectively.
SoFi and GE Vernova jump after reports
Shares of SoFi jumped 4.3% after Citi rated the online personal finance company a buy. Shares of GE Vernova, which started trading on NYSE earlier this month, rose 6% in late afternoon when JPMorgan upgraded it to overweight from neutral.
—Rocio Fabbro and William Gavin contributed to this article.