The Dow Jones rises 400 points to a new high as Wall Street cheers Trump’s choice of Scott Bessent

Stocks rose Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) closing at a new record after gaining more than 400 points, or nearly 1%.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also rose 0.3%, pressured by Nvidia (NVDA) shares that fell more than 4%.

Meanwhile, small cap stocks also rose, with the Russell 2000 (^RUT) rising as much as 2% during the session and hitting record intraday highs. The index closed just below its all-time high.

Markets rose on Monday following President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary.

Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Kamlani reports:

Allurion (ALUR) launched a new program Monday to give patients access to compounded weight-loss medications, after months of promoting its own weight-loss solution — a swallowable balloon — as an alternative for patients who may not want to use the popular injectable GLP medication. 1 medications.

Allurion CEO Shantanu Gaur told Yahoo Finance that the company, like others, continues to see a spillover effect from the unprecedented interest in GLP-1 drugs like Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s (LLY) Zepbound. That’s why the company now offers copycat products at a fraction of the price.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

Shares of Tesla (TSLA) fell on Monday after a strong recent rise, after a Wall Street bank says “animal spirits” have pushed the stock past any “fundamental change” at the company.

Joseph Spak of UBS noted that Tesla shares have risen about 40% since the election, increasing its market capitalization by more than $350 million. While some policy proposals from newly elected President Donald Trump could benefit Tesla, there are also some negative policy proposals that would hurt fundamentals more than where the theoretical upside has taken over the stock.

“The rise in Tesla stock is largely driven by animal spirits/momentum (which has happened several times in TSLA history),” Spak wrote.

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Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell to $95,000 on Monday after recently jumping to record highs just shy of $100,000.

The cryptocurrency has been steadily rising since Donald Trump’s presidential victory earlier this month. On Friday, the token rose above $99,600.

Year-to-date, bitcoin is up about 120%.

Cruise line stocks have had an impressive performance this year and there is still more room for growth, according to Bank of America.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH) and Carnival Corporation (CCL) are up more than 30%, while Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) is up more than 80% this year.

Bank of America raised Norwegian’s price target from $26 to $29 and maintained a neutral rating. For Carnival, the company raised the price target from $24 to $28 and maintained a buy rating, while for Royal Caribbean, the analysts raised the price target from $210 to $240 and maintained a neutral rating.

“The travel industry is back,” Bank of America analyst Andrew Didora told Yahoo Finance. “It just seems like the core target group for cruises [lines]which is typically a slightly higher income, they remain in a good place from a discretionary spending perspective.”

Cruise line operators have seen a resurgence in demand as interest rebounded after the pandemic era, when restrictions kept fleets docked. Bank of America data shows that monthly spending on cruises rose 8% year over year in October.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares fell to session lows, falling more than 3% on Monday.

The heavyweight AI chip performed the worst among the ‘Magnificent 7’ stocks. Shares of Tesla (TSLA) fell more than 1%, while Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) rose more than 1%.

Nvidia’s decline weighed on the Nasdaq, which briefly turned negative at 12:20 p.m. ET.

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) also fell 3%, keeping the tech-heavy index in check.

The Russell 2000 (^RUT) rose more than 2% on Monday, reaching its highest level since November 2021.

The small cap index has risen in recent months as the Fed began its rate-cutting cycle, fueling expectations of cheaper financing.

The Russell 2000 is up more than 20% this year, with much of these gains coming since early August.

Two more Wall Street strategists predict the bull market for US stocks will continue into 2025.

On Monday, the equity strategy teams at Barclays and RBC Capital Markets both issued a year-end target price of $6,600 for the S&P 500 (^GSPC) in 2025. The targets suggest an upside of about 10.5% in the benchmark index over the next twelve months. , approximately in line with the historical average annual return over the past century.

“The story the data tells us is that another year of solid economic and earnings growth, some political tailwinds and some additional relief from inflation (which should keep the S&P 500’s price/earnings high) could allow stocks to continue to rise higher in the coming year. Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a letter to clients on Monday.

Venu Krishna, head of U.S. equity strategy at Barclays, wrote that as inflation continues to normalize, macro economies are resilient and Big Tech maintains its earnings per share leadership, the S&P 500 should continue its rise.

Read more here.

MicroStrategy (MSTR) said Monday it bought another 55,000 worth of bitcoin for $5.4 billion last week, as the world’s largest cryptocurrency traded at all-time highs.

MicroStrategy shares recovered from a loss of more than 7% in early trading.

In a filing with the SEC, MicroStrategy said it spent $5.4 billion to acquire this bitcoin between November 18 and 24, buying the bitcoin at an average price of $97,862.

The company said it used proceeds from convertible bonds and stock sales to finance the purchase.

The application software company turned bitcoin proxy has been purchasing tokens since 2020.

In recent weeks, it has intensified its buying as Bitcoin has recovered to highs above $99,000 following Donald Trump’s presidential victory earlier this month.

As of Sunday, MicroStrategy held a total of approximately 386,700 bitcoins, acquired for a total purchase price of approximately $21.9 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $56,761 per bitcoin.

Oil prices fell to a record low after a report that a ceasefire may have been reached between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) fell more than 2% to hover below $70 per barrel, while Brent (BZ=F), the international benchmark, traded below $74 per barrel.

Axios reported on Monday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed on the terms of a ceasefire, citing a senior US official.

Earlier, Israel’s ambassador to Washington said in a radio interview on Monday that deal points still need to be finalized, but that an agreement “could happen within days.”

Shares of Nvidia ( NVDA ) fell as much as 3% in early trading as the AI ​​chip heavyweight failed to participate in the rest of the market gains.

Nvidia shares continued their decline from Friday’s session despite the company outperforming quarterly results announced last week.

The AI ​​chipmaker is a leader in the overall markets this year, accounting for about 20% of the S&P 500’s performance.

U.S. stocks rose Monday as investors await the Fed’s preferred inflation measure this week and after President-elect Donald Trump announced his pick for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led the advance, up about 0.7%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose nearly 0.6%.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index will be released this Wednesday, giving investors clues as to what the Fed’s next move on interest rates could be.

Shares of the “Magnificent Seven” were mostly higher, with the exception of Nvidia (NVDA), which fell more than 1%, extending its decline