Market information is displayed on monitors as a trader works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., April 4, 2024.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
U.S. stocks rose Monday, with Wall Street looking to build on the previous session’s strong gains, after new jobs data revived hopes of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 110 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 advanced 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6%.
Micron shares gained more than 5.5% after Baird upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral and said it sees “meaningful opportunities ahead” for shares.
Wall Street is coming off a winning session, after fresh nonfarm payrolls data on Friday showed the U.S. economy added fewer-than-expected jobs in April and an increase in unemployment, easing fears of an overheating economy.
“It’s good that we’re getting some sort of a continuation, because it seems as if the market is saying that the pullback is over and we’ll just work our way back up,” CFRA chief investment strategist Sam Stovall said, adding that Monday’s momentum is a reaction to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s statement last week that ruled out a rate hike as the central bank’s next move. That “made investors breathe a sigh of relief,” Stovall said.
Investors will get more clues on future Fed moves on Monday, with Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin and New York Fed President John Williams slated to speak.
While the peak of the first-quarter earnings season has passed, investors are still watching key companies set to report this week, including Dow member Disney on Tuesday and Uber on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a nearly 40% surge in year-over-year operating earnings for the first quarter. Berkshire also held its annual shareholder meeting.
Silver funds rally
The SLV and SIL ETFs, 1 day
The iShares fund track’s the metal’s price, which touched its highest level in more than a week on Monday. The Global X ETF was led higher by Endeavour Silver, Coeur Mining and First Majestic Silver, which all popped at least 5%.
— Alex Harring, Gina Francolla
Stocks open higher on Monday
See the stocks making premarket moves
These are some of the stocks making notable moves before the bell:
- Berkshire Hathaway — Class A shares rose 1.2% following the latest financial report and annual shareholders meeting over the week. Berkshire saw operating profit jump 39% year over year, while cash holding swelled to a record level.
- Tyson Foods — Shares gained 2.1% after Tyson posted earnings per share for the second fiscal quarter that beat expectations. Revenue, on the other hand, came in lower than Wall Street anticipated.
- Paramount — Shares popped 2.4% following a report that the media giant began formal acquisition negotiations with a group led by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo. Over the weekend, Warren Buffett said all of Berkshire’s stake in the stock was sold.
See the full list here.
— Alex Harring
Foxconn shares spike almost 7% after April sales soar almost 20%
Workers at Foxconn factory campus in Longhua town, Shenzhen. 20JUL16 SCMP/Nora Tam (Photo by Nora Tam/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)
South China Morning Post | South China Morning Post | Getty Images
Shares of iPhone manufacturer Foxconn spiked as much as 6.73% after the company reported a 19.03% year-on-year rise in April revenue.
Foxconn, which trades as Hon Hai Precision Industry in Taiwan, recorded 510.9 billion New Taiwan dollars ($15.83 billion) in revenue in April, compared to the NT$447.54 billion recorded in March.
The company said that its component business, as well as its cloud and networking products “delivered strong growth,” while its smart consumer electronics and computing products segment “showed significant year on year growth in revenue.”
— Lim Hui Jie
Yen to face resistance at 150 against the dollar: SMBC
The Japanese yen will face upside resistance against the U.S. dollar at the 150 level despite two rounds of suspected intervention by Japanese authorities last week, says SMBC economist Ryota Abe.
The yen abruptly strengthened on April 29 and May 2, leading analysts to believe that Japan’s finance ministry bought yen to stem the currency’s slide.
Abe also noted that Japan’s authorities are unlikely to intervene unless the yen weakens again. But he also said that the rate differential between the U.S. and Japan will remain as such if both central banks keep their monetary policies unchanged.
The yen was trading at 153.64 at 11:18 a.m. Tokyo time.
— Lim Hui Jie
Caixin China services PMI comes in at 52.5 in April
Cargo ships stop at their berths to load and unload containers at the container terminal in Lianyungang Port, East China’s Jiangsu province, June 5, 2023.
Wang Chun | Future Publishing | Getty Images
A private survey showed the expansion in China’s services activity slowed slightly in April from March.
The Caixin/S&P Global services purchasing managers’ index came in at 52.5 in April, ticking down from 52.7 in March.
“Although slightly softer, growth was again solid and has now been sustained for 16 consecutive months,” the survey read.
A PMI reading above 50 indicates an expansion in activity, while a reading below that level points to a contraction.
— Shreyashi Sanyal
Hong Kong’s private sector expands at slower pace in April
Business activity in Hong Kong’s private sector expanded at a slower pace in April, according to S&P Global.
The purchasing managers’ index for the city slipped to 50.6 from March’s 50.9.
Jingyi Pan, Economics Associate Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the reading signaled another improvement in business conditions at the start of the second quarter.
However, Pan said the growth appears to be on “shaky ground,” highlighting that forward-looking indicators, such as the decline in new business orders in April, hinted at softening conditions.
— Lim Hui Jie
Berkshire Hathaway cut Paramount exposure entirely
Warren Buffett speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 4, 2024.
CNBC
Warren Buffett revealed that he dumped Berkshire Hathaway’s entire Paramount stake at a loss.
“I was 100% responsible for the Paramount decision,” Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday. “We’ve sold it all and we lost quite a bit of money.”
The Omaha-based conglomerate first bought a nonvoting stake in Paramount’s class B shares in the first quarter of 2022. Since then the media company has had a tough ride, experiencing a dividend cut, earnings miss and a CEO exit. The stock is down nearly 24% in 2024.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.
— Hakyung Kim, Yun Li
Stock futures slightly higher Sunday night
U.S. stock futures were in the green Sunday evening.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 55 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures added 0.2% each.
— Hakyung Kim
