US stocks traded mixed on Monday as optimism over rate cuts faded as investors looked ahead to Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings to test the health of the AI business.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell about 0.2%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was mostly flat. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.1%, buoyed by a rise in Tesla (TSLA) shares.
Stocks start the week on the back foot as the prospect of longer yields keeps post-election bullishness in check. The S&P 500 has reversed half its Trump-fueled rally after sharp weekly losses for key indicators led by technology.
Signs of a robust economy, combined with comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, have prompted investors to temper their expectations for rate cuts. After the major macroeconomic and political events of the past few days, the week will bring little economic data that is likely to reset these calculations.
Read more: What the Fed’s interest rate cut means for bank accounts, CDs, loans and credit cards
That’s why eyes now turn to Nvidia’s results on Wednesday for insight into the power of AI trading, which has contributed to the S&P 500’s gains over the past year. Production of its flagship Blackwell chip is taking center stage, especially after The Information reported that its next-generation AI chip has experienced overheating issues. Nvidia shares fell nearly 3% in early trading.
Elsewhere in the tech sector, shares of EV maker Tesla rose more than 6% in the wake of a Bloomberg report that President-elect Donald Trump’s team wants to relax US rules on self-driving vehicles.
Wall Street continues to keep an eye on Trump’s cabinet picks after his choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a top health care official rocked vaccine stocks. The new president has appointed Brendan Carr, a critic of Big Techs like Meta and Apple, as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. We now have to wait to see who will win the crazy race to become Trump’s Treasury Secretary.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) – a major Trump trade – has recovered from its biggest decline since last weekend’s election. The cryptocurrency was trading above $90,000 on Monday.
