S&P 500, Nasdaq lead rally as Nvidia jumps, markets brush off Trump tariff threats

The major averages rebounded on Monday led by tech and energy stocks as investors awaited an official announcement from President Trump over new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained nearly 0.4% while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rallied about 0.6%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rallied about 1% as most semiconductor stocks, including AI chip giant Nvidia (NVDA), surged.

The markets brushed off President Trump’s latest tariff threats. Over the weekend the president said he would introduce additional 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Steel-related stocks jumped, including Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF), Nucor (NUE) and US Steel (X).

Meanwhile, Energy (XLE) stocks outperformed as oil prices rebounded from a three-week decline. Tech (XLK) stocks also outperformed.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI)

Shares of the server maker soared 15% on Monday ahead of a critical business update scheduled for Tuesday. This comes amid heightened investor scrutiny following recent financial accounting challenges. The company must file its overdue financial statements by Feb. 25 or face a potential delisting.

Monday.com (MNDY)

Shares of cloud platform monday.com surged by over 25% after the company posted fourth quarter earnings that blew past Wall Street revenue and profit expectations. The firm’s executives signaled plans to intensify artificial intelligence efforts in 2025 on the heels of the report.

Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF)

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) soared 15% after President Trump said over the weekend that he would impose a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the US. Peers US Steel (X), Alcoa (AA), and Nucor (NUE) all gained during Monday’s session.

Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger reports:

Billionaire Elon Musk suggested in a series of social media posts this past weekend that the Federal Reserve should undergo closer scrutiny, making the comments just days before Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill.

Musk — who is already roiling Washington as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — said in one post on X Sunday that “All aspects of the government must be fully transparent and accountable to the people. No exceptions, including, if not especially, the Federal Reserve.”

It came in reaction to a post from another X user who argued that the Fed has never had a full audit or a full disclosure of monetary policy decisions.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports:

The Magnificent Seven has turned into the Stupendous One as AI spending fears weigh on sentiment.

The usually reliably hot Magnificent Seven trade of Meta (META), Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), and Tesla (TSLA) has underwhelmed more than one month into 2025. Only one of the big-cap tech components — Meta — has notched double-digit gains out of the box.

In fact, shares of Meta have risen for 15 straight sessions through Monday — bringing its year-to-date advance to a stellar (or stupendous…) 20%.

Amazon is the only other Mag Seven component to be up on the year to the tune of 5.9%, slightly ahead of the 3.4% increase for the S&P 500 (^GSPC). Alphabet, Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Tesla are all down year to date, with an average drop of 3% based on Yahoo Finance’s calculations.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

Rivian (RIVN) announced on Monday that it is opening up orders for its Rivian Commercial van beyond its initial launch partners, potentially creating a lucrative business for the pure-play EV maker.

Rivian’s commercial van runs on the same platform as the current electric delivery van that Rivian produces for Amazon (AMZN). Though Rivian originally had an exclusive arrangement to produce 100,000 vans for the retail giant, Amazon is currently only using 20,000 vans.

Rivian said that after the end of its exclusivity period with Amazon, it had been testing its commercial vans with large fleet operators, including AT&T, and was now ready to open up orders to other companies utilizing fleets.

Rivian shares were up over 3% in midday trade on Monday.

Oil futures rallied on Monday, helping lift energy stocks.

The S&P 500 Energy Sector (XLE) was the biggest gainer, outperforming Tech (XLK) and Consumer Discretionary (XLY).

On Monday the stock market shrugged off escalating trade tensions, with all three major averages rallying.

Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F) and Brent futures (BZ=F) gained more than 1%, bouncing back from a three-week decline.

“The sharply higher US stock market is also bringing buyers back from the sidelines,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading for BOK Financial Securities.

US consumers’ long-term inflation expectations moved higher in January as President Trump teased more tariff announcements over the weekend.

According to the latest survey released by the New York Federal Reserve Monday morning, consumers see inflation steady at 3% a year from now, while the three-year period also came in unchanged at 3%. Five-year inflation expectations, however, ticked up to 3% from the prior 2.7% reading — the highest since May 2024.

Year-ahead commodity price expectations rose across the board, with the outlook for gas prices rising to 2.6% in January while costs for food, medical care, college, and rent all increased to 4.6%, 6.8%, 5.9%, and 6.0%, respectively.

The results follow last week’s University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey, which showed headline sentiment decline to its lowest level in seven months. Pessimism over the inflation outlook drove down February’s preliminary read and one-year inflation expectations jumped to 4.3% from 3.3% last month.

Outside of inflation, Monday’s survey also pointed to some uncertainty within the US job market, despite Friday’s hot January payrolls report.

The mean perceived probability of losing one’s job in the next 12 months increased by 2.3 percentage points to 14.2% in January. Meanwhile, the mean perceived probability of finding a job in the next three months also increased to 51.5%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points.

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports:

Markets may be trying to figure out the impact of a full-on Trump trade war with Europe, China, Canada, and Mexico.

But one prominent economist says the eventual outcome could be singular.

Apollo Global Management (APO) chief economist Torsten Sløk told me on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid that a full-scale US trade war against the world would deliver a “stagflationary shock” to the US economy. Stagflation is defined as a period of slow growth and high inflation. It’s a tariff-related warning also recently issued by billionaire investor Ray Dalio. (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance is owned by Apollo Global Management.)

“So the short-run effects of a trade war [are] certainly painful. Even this might be small numbers, but it’s certainly something that’s negative,” Sløk said on Monday (see video above; listen below).

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul reports:

Donald Trump’s rapid reorientation of the US trade landscape has a busy week ahead, and he could make moves on three simultaneous fronts as importers, CEOs, and foreign leaders struggle to adjust.

The uncertainty is being heightened as crucial details remain unclear, but with the president promising “highly detailed” announcements in the days ahead.

Up first this week is a newly announced plan for 25% duties on steel and aluminum, which Trump told reporters on Sunday would be announced on Monday.

The president is set to sign new executive orders at 1 p.m. ET. He said his tariff plans will apply to all imports, but it remains to be seen how these new duties overlap with existing metal tariffs.

Read more here.

The headline is the whole story, give or take.

At midnight Saturday, this post on X emerged:

As Sherwood’s Luke Kawa notes: “Saylor runs Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin. The warm market response to Cohen’s tweet suggests that traders are hoping that Cohen uses some of GameStop’s $4.6 billion in cash and cash-like securities to take a page from Saylor’s playbook. (That playbook has one rule: buy bitcoin).”

Here’s GameStop stock (GME) this morning, up as much as 7% about 30 minutes into the trading session:

Back in December 2023, GameStop’s board gave Cohen the authority to use the company’s capital to make investments, essentially laying the groundwork for GameStop to be turned into a holding company similar to the Daily Journal (DJCO) company formerly chaired by the late Charlie Munger, or, more grandiosely, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A).

Saylor’s Strategy, as Kawa notes, last week formally changed its branding and corporate goals around serving as a bitcoin holding company. (The company also has a small software business on the side.)

Longtime analyst Jeff Macke told Yahoo Finance last year he thinks GameStop should follow the same path.

And you know what they say about pictures.

Gold surged on Monday to trade past $2,900 to hit new records as President Trump’s latest tariff threats spurred the buying of the safe-haven asset.

Gold futures (GC=F) climbed more than 1.4% to around $2,930 after hitting a series of all-time highs in the past week.

Over the weekend, Trump said that he will introduce 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum into the US from all countries, on top of existing duties.

He also said Friday he plans to announce retaliatory tariffs this week to match the levies that countries impose on US goods. The latest policy shifts follow 10% tariffs on certain Chinese products, which went into effect on Tuesday.

Wall Street analysts have stayed bullish on gold amid the growing tariff threats.

“We continue to see gold as an effective portfolio hedge and diversifier, and believe an allocation of around 5% within a USD balanced portfolio is optimal,” Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer for the Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management, wrote in a Monday note.

Gold is up almost 10% this year so far, following a 27% rally in 2024.

US stocks opened higher on Monday with Industrials getting a lift as investors anticipate US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will be announced soon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) added 0.6% after the blue-chip index on Friday booked its worst loss in nearly four weeks. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose roughly 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) popped 0.7%.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump said he will impose new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, with an announcement expected on Monday. Also, investors expect Trump to announce a retaliatory tariff plan this week.

Trade tensions have prompted investors to flock to safe-haven assets like gold. The precious metal gained more than 1% on Monday, to trade above $2,900 per ounce for the first time on record.

The year-to-date gain for gold is almost 10%, following a 27% rally in 2024.