Stocks Falter Ahead Of Data-Rich Week, Tesla Rallies On 'Robotaxi' Push, Bitcoin Reclaims $71,500: What's Driving Markets Monday?

Author: Piero Cingari | April 08, 2024 01:49pm

It’s a lackluster trading session on Wall Street, with the main indices experiencing slight declines as traders adopt a cautious stance ahead of a data-heavy week.

The spotlight will be on Wednesday’s release of March inflation data, with consensus among economists anticipating another uptick in the annual inflation rate from 3.2% to 3.4%, potentially causing further turbulence in expectations regarding imminent Fed rate cuts. According to the CME Group Fed watch tool, there is currently nearly a 50-50 chance between a hold and a cut in June.

The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq 100 showed little movement at midday trading in New York, while small caps managed to inch higher.

In the bond market, Treasury yields continued to rise, with the 30-year yield surpassing 4.55%, on track to close at the highest level since late November 2023. Concurrently, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT) weakened further.

Oil prices experienced a 1% decrease following a slight easing of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, prompted by Israel’s announcement of a partial troop withdrawal from Gaza.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was the top performer among mega-cap stocks, up 4.5%, buoyed by Elon Musk’s revelation of the launch of a ‘Robotaxi’ in August.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was the market’s brightest spot, with the largest cryptocurrency rallying over 3.5% to $71,700.

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Monday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg
Russell 2000	2,073.61	0.6%
S&P 500	5,204.24	0.0%
Dow Jones	38,895.21	0.0%
Nasdaq 100	18,098.48	-0.1 %

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 0.1% up to $519.07, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) was 0.1% higher to $389.25 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) was flat at $440.84, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

Sector-wise, the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) outperformed, up 1.1%, while the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) was the laggard, down 0.3%.

Monday’s Stock Movers

• Shares of Apartment Income REIT Corp. (NYSE:AIRC) rose 23%, after Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) announced to buy AIRC for $39.12 per share, a premium of 25% to Friday’s closing share price. 
• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (NYSE:TSM) rose 1.6% after the chipmaker disclosed that it will receive $6.6 billion in subsidies from the US Commerce Department to facilitate the expansion of facilities for advanced semiconductor production at its existing plants located near Phoenix, Arizona.
• Crypto-related stock Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) rallied 6.9% outperforming industry peers like Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) and Riot Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:RIOT) which remained flat for the day.

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Posted In: $BTC AIRC BX COIN DIA MARA QQQ RIOT SPY TLT TSLA TSM XLK XLU XLV XLY