Tech Stocks Surge, Steelmakers Jump On Trump's 25% Tariffs, Copper Hits 9-Month Highs: What's Driving Markets Monday?

Wall Street bounced back on Monday, recovering from Friday's robust decline fueled by tariff concerns, as investors remained focused on strong earnings from the fourth-quarter reporting season while awaiting further clarity on trade policies.

The Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.3% by midday in New York, poised for its best session in over three weeks, with semiconductor stocks leading the charge.

Nvidia Corp. NVDA gained 3.4%, buoyed by a Wall Street Journal report announcing that New York State banned DeepSeek from government devices, sparking speculation about stricter state regulations on Chinese AI chip products.

Steel and aluminum stocks rallied after President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on imports of both metals from all countries.

• United States Steel Corp. X rose 4.7%, eyeing its best session in a month.
• Steel Dynamics Inc. STLD climbed 5.5%.
• Century Aluminum Co. CENX jumped 10.4%, while Nucor Corp. NUE gained 6.5%.
• Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. CLF soared 17.3%, Alcoa Corp. AA rose 3.6%, and Kaiser Aluminum Corp. KALU added 2.9%.

Commodities rallied, with metals and energy producers outperforming. Gold extended record highs with a 1.5% gain, but copper stole the spotlight, surging 2.6% to its highest level since May 2024, marking its sixth consecutive daily gain. Oil prices also rebounded, rising over 1%.

Crypto sentiment improved slightly, with Bitcoin BTC/USD gaining 1% to $97,500 after a period of subdued price action.

Monday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %change
Nasdaq 100	21,778.76	1.3%
S&P 500	6,069.92	0.7%
Russell 2000	2,291.54	0.5%
Dow Jones	44,437.68	0.3%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.7% to $604.81.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA inched 0.3% up to $444.50.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ rallied 1.3% to $529.73.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rose 0.6% to $227.25.
• The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE outperformed, up 2%; the Financials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY lagged, down 0.7%.

Monday’s Stock Movers

Stocks reacting to earnings reports included:

• McDonald’s Corporation MCD: up 3.8%
• Rockwell Automation Inc. ROK: up 12.8%
• ON Semiconductor Corporation ON: down 6.6%
• monday.com Ltd. MNDY: up 30.3%
• Insperity, Inc. NSP: up 14.7%
• Edgewell Personal Care Company EPC: down 9.7%
• CNA Financial Corporation CNA: up 2.1%
• Incyte Corporation INCY: down 6.0%
• Roivant Sciences Ltd. ROIV: up 1.1%
• GCM Grosvenor Inc. GCMG: up 3.8%
• PowerFleet, Inc. AIOT: up 32.3%

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