Stocks, Gold Reach New Record Highs, Cruise Stocks Rally, GameStop Sinks: What's Driving Markets Monday?

Wall Street kicked off the new week on a high note, with all major U.S. indices posting gains and reaching fresh record highs by midday trading in New York, as the bull market momentum remains strong.

The S&P 500 index surged to 5,325 points during the session, matching last Thursday’s all-time high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed past 18,670 points, setting new record highs. The Dow Jones remained steady at 40,000, its highest level ever.

The rally in metal commodities continued, with gold, as tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust GLD, exceeding $2,430 per ounce, marking a new all-time record. Silver increased by 1.3% after a 6.4% gain on Friday, up more than 20% since the beginning of the month.

Treasury yields saw little movement, with the 10-year benchmark hovering at 4.44%. Markets appeared to brush off some hawkish remarks from the Federal Reserve.

Federal Reserve Vice President Michael Barr noted that first-quarter inflation was disappointing and did not provide the confidence needed to ease monetary policy, emphasizing the necessity of allowing tight policy more time to work. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly expressed that she is not yet confident inflation is sustainably decreasing to 2%. In a softer tone, Vice Chair Philip Jefferson highlighted that the policy is in restrictive territory and that he is cautiously optimistic about continuing the fight against inflation while keeping the economy strong.

Among industries, cruise stocks rallied substantially after Norwegian Cruise Holdings Ltd. NCLH raised its earnings guidance for the year, boosting shares by over 8%. Peers such as Carnival Corp. CCL and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. RCL saw gains of 7.4% and 5.4%, respectively.

Sentiment on meme stocks continued to wane, with GameStop Corp. GME falling over 11% on Monday, plummeting more than 70% since last week’s highs.

Monday’s Performance On Major US Indices, ETFs

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.3% higher at $530.81, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA was flat at $399.78 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ was up 0.6% to $454.59, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

Sector-wise, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK outperformed, up by 1.1%. The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY was the laggard, down 0.6%.

Monday’s Stock Movers

• Moderna Inc. MRNA rose 6.7%, hitting the highest level in more than a year and on track to notch its sixth straight session of gains as positive momentum post-Q1 earnings continued to hold.
• Jabil Inc. JBL surged over 6% following the announcement that Chief Financial Officer and interim Chief Executive Michael Dastoor has been appointed as the permanent chief executive.
• Hims & Hers Health Inc. HIMS rose over 35%, after announcing the addition of GLP-1 injections to its weight loss offerings.
• Wix.com Ltd WIX rallied 25%, in reactions to the company’s quarterly earnings.
• Other stocks reacting to their company’s earnings were UL Solutions Inc. ULS, up 2.4% and Global-E Online Ltd. GLBE up 5%.
• Companies scheduled to report their earnings after the market close include Palo Alto Networks Inc. PANW, Keysight Technologies Inc. KEYS, Zoom Video Communications Inc. ZM and Nordson Corp. NDSN

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Image generated using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.