Zinger Key Points
- Stocks flat at midday as mixed retail sales data fails to spark a bullish reaction among investors.
- Retail sales rise 0.2%, rebounding from January's decline but missing the expected 0.6% increase. Core sales show stronger gains.
- Our government trade tracker caught Pelosi’s 169% AI winner. Discover how to track all 535 Congress member stock trades today.
Stocks were little moved during midday Monday trading in New York, as a mixed retail sales report failed to generate a bullish response from investors.
Retail sales rose 0.2% month-over-month in February, rebounding from a concerning 1.2% decline in January but falling short of the 0.6% forecast. Yet, when excluding volatile categories, the picture looked slightly brighter.
The control group measure — which strips out sales from auto dealers, building materials, gas stations, office supply stores, mobile home dealers and tobacco retailers — rose 1% in February, fully offsetting January's 1% decline and significantly surpassing the expected 0.2% increase.
Despite this, concerns over a broader economic slowdown remain, with traders now looking ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Wednesday for reassurance that the U.S. economy is not headed for a recession.
Major indices remained broadly flat, though small caps outperformed. Energy led sector gains, while consumer discretionary lagged.
In currency markets, the U.S. dollar index softened 0.3%, heading towards six-month lows. Gold continued to edge higher, hovering around the symbolic all-time high of $3,000 per ounce level.
Oil prices rebounded 0.8%, as crude rallied following President Donald Trump's vow to strike the Houthis in the Red Sea. Bitcoin BTC/USD climbed 1.4%, recovering some ground after a 2% drop on Sunday.
Monday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs
Major Indices | Price | 1-day % chg |
Russell 2000 | 2,059.31 | 0.7% |
Dow Jones | 41,698.02 | 0.5% |
S&P 500 | 5,649.40 | 0.2% |
Nasdaq 100 | 19,690.47 | -0.1 % |
According to Benzinga Pro data:
- The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY inched 0.2% up to $564.16.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.5% to $417.56.
- The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ eased 0.1% to $479.08.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rose 0.7%.
- The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE outperformed, up 1.6%; the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY lagged, down 0.6%.
Monday’s Stock Movers
- Shares of NVIDIA Corp. NVDA dropped 2.6% on Monday, as investors braced for the company’s highly anticipated GTC AI conference, set to begin later in the day.
- Netflix Inc. NFLX surged 3.6% after Moffett Nathanson upgraded its rating from “Neutral” to “Buy” and raised the stock's price target by $250 to $1,100.
- Tesla Inc. TSLA tumbled 6% decline, giving back some of the gains from Friday
- Chipmaker Intel Corp. INTC jumped 7.6% after a Reuters report indicated incoming CEO Lip-Bu Tan may streamline operations by reducing middle management layers, optimizing chip production and launching new AI-focused semiconductors.
- Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc. BIDU climbed 7.5% following the unveiling of Ernie X1, its latest artificial intelligence model. Baidu asserts that Ernie X1 delivers performance levels comparable to rival DeepSeek's AI but at only half the cost.
- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. NCLH gained 4.4%, reaching $20.04, after JPMorgan upgraded the cruise operator’s stock to “Overweight” from “Neutral.”
- In contrast, Affirm Holdings Inc. AFRM tumbled 10% after Swedish fintech Klarna announced it would become the exclusive Buy Now, Pay Later provider for Walmart Inc. WMT. Previously, Affirm held that exclusive partnership.
Read Next:
Photo: Shutterstock
© 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.