Nasdaq jumps to lead Dow, S&P 500 higher as techs, rate-cut hopes revive

The Tesla (TSLA) trade continues to reflect the ambitions and the passionate following of its singular CEO, Elon Musk.

Tesla shares jumped roughly 6% Friday amid speculation that Musk could potentially buy TikTok. The short-form video app that has amassed a huge following in the US needs to find an American buyer, or it will effectively face a nationwide ban starting next week.

“We believe ByteDance and ultimately Beijing is looking at the possibility that Musk/X could buy the US TikTok operations,” wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a note to investors.

Tesla is also enjoying a broader rally in part thanks to Musk’s alliance with President-elect Trump, who could potentially accelerate the EV company’s plans to launch a fleet of robotaxis. Musk also co-leads a quasi-governmental position that aims to cut federal spending, which could also favor Musk’s aspirations.

Tesla’s share price has surged around 75% since Election Day.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday that the investment adviser Vanguard will pay more than $100 million to settle charges for misleading statements related to its target-date retirement funds.

The charges stem from a decision in late 2020 by Vanguard to lower the minimum initial investment for its institutional target retirement funds. After a substantial number of retirement plan investors switched from their investor plans to to the institutional plans, underlying assets had to be sold to meet the demand for theese redemptions. Retail investors who did not switch into the institutional target funds were hit with “historically larger capital gains distributions and tax liabilities and were deprived of the potential compounding growth of their investments,” according to the SEC.

Vanguard told Yahoo Finance in a statement that it is pleased to have reached this settlement.

The settlement amount will be distributed to harmed investors, the SEC said.

Bitcoin bulls are back in control Friday as the price of the dominant cryptocurrency shot above $100,000 and investors anticipated further action from President-elect Donald Trump to support the industry.

Trump is expected to release an executive order prioritizing crypto policy during his early days in office, according to reports, as well as appoint business-friendly officials to oversee digital currency’s continued rollout into the broader economy.

In addition to cryptocurrencies rising in value, several corporate players tied to the ecosystem are rallying off the news. Coinbase (COIN), the nation’s largest crypto trading platform, rose 5% Friday. MicroStrategy (MSTR), which continues to invest heavily in bitcoin, gained 7%.

Trump has also expressed interest in creating a US crypto reserve, appointing a crypto czar, and implementing other regulations to drive adoption. The pro-growth approach contrasts with what was widely seen as an antagonistic relationship between the Biden administration and the crypto industry.

The final trading day of the Biden era is heading for muscular gains Friday as optimism over President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, and the policy changes that will follow, conicide with impressive corporate earnings and a rosier interest rate outlook.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained 1.1% while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 1.2%, coming off a losing day for the major gauges. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) put on over 1.7% as Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA) shares nudged back into the green.

Stocks are on track for big weekly wins after a major rally on Wednesday. And the 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) pulled back to trade around 4.6% on Friday.

Here are some of the stocks leading Yahoo Finance’s trending tickers page during morning trading on Friday.

META (META): Shares of the social media platform rose more than half a percent Friday morning following a decision from the US Supreme Court upholding the law that could see its rival, short-form video app TikTok, banned in the US. The TikTok ban would become effective this Sunday, Jan. 19, unless Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance divests from the platform.

Novo Nordisk (NVO): The pharmaceutical company came under pressure after some of its medications were included in a list of Medicare price negotiations in 2027. Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, were among the names. Shares fell more than 4%.

Intel (INTC): Shares of the embattled technology giant surged 8% Friday afternoon as speculation circulated online that the company has become an acquisition target, based on a report from SemiAccurate Friday. Intel stock has lost more than half its value over the past year.

Coinbase (COIN): The nation’s largest crypto platform is being buoyed once again by surging bitcoin prices. The price of bitcoin (BTC-USD) topped $100,000 again Friday following reports that President-elect Donald Trump is planning to release an executive order elevating crypto as a policy priority.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its second round of drug negotiation targets, a list of 15 drugs under Medicare Part D, including Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) blockbuster GLP-1s, reports Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani.

Novo was trading down 4% on the news Friday.

Diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss drug Wegovy top the list, along with a number of others like Merck’s (MRK) diabetes drug Janumet.

Read more about the next round of drug price negotiations here.

It is unclear if the incoming Trump administration will honor this list and the process or change it after taking office Jan. 20.

Novo Nordisk currently has 55% of the GLP-1 market and has raked in $50 billion from the two drugs last year in the first three quarters alone.

The US Supreme Court has upheld a law that bans TikTok in the US from Sunday unless it is sold to an owner not controlled by a foreign adversary, report Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Keenan and Daniel Howley.

The ruling on Friday creates new uncertainty for the Chinese app used by 170 million Americans, but could be a long-term boon for social-media rivals for ad dollars like Meta (META).

The court sided with the US government’s argument that ties between TikTok’s parent ByteDance and Beijing presented a national security threat that empowered Congress to demand it be sold.

TikTok had argued it was entitled to First Amendment protections and that its proprietary algorithm was in fact an editorial expression that qualified as speech.

The court’s decision likely leaves the fate of TikTok in the hands of Donald Trump, who promised to “save TikTok” and had asked the court to suspend the divestment deadline. The president-elect takes office on Jan. 20, a day after the ban goes into effect.

Read more here.

A tech stock revival drove a jump on Wall Street Friday as investors took in a week of favorable inflation readings and impressive corporate earnings, shifting market sentiment back toward optimism as the Federal Reserve considers its rate-setting policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained 0.7%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 1%, coming off a losing day for the major gauges. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) put on over 1.6% as Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA) shares nudged back into the green.

Markets have turned upbeat as investors take stock of recent days’ big bank earnings and inflation readings, which have resuscitated bets on interest-rate cuts. Stocks are on track for big weekly wins after a major rally on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) pulled back to 4.6% on Friday.

Housing starts rose in December, buoyed by a pickup in multifamily construction.

Data from the Census Bureau showed that housing jumped 15.8% in December to an annual rate of 1.49 million, which was higher than economists’ expectations for an annual rate of 1.32 million.

Single-family starts had a modest advance. Construction rose 3.3% to an annualized rate of 1.05 million, the strongest pace since February 2024. Meanwhile, construction for multifamily dwellings grew by nearly 62%.

“Housing starts soared at the end of the year, but this does not mean the country is out of the woods when it comes to the problems in the residential housing sector,” Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS, wrote after the release.

“There still is not enough housing in the country, and the construction of residential homes remains historically depressed,” the economist added.

To this point, new construction in 2024 was the slowest it has been since 2019, per Bloomberg. Despite the rise in construction, builders are dealing with elevated mortgage rates. Freddie Mac said mortgage rates increased to 7.04% this week, hitting the highest since May 2024. Rates on a home loan tend to follow US Treasury yields, which had been climbing higher following strong employment data.