Dow Runs To Start Tech+Fed Week

CLOSING BELL

Dow Runs To Start Tech+Fed Week

The market climbed Monday, all eyes on tech reports to come, and the FOMC decision that already feels decided. Gold sold off as traders watched a cooling trade battle between China and the U.S., with groundwork laid over the weekend ahead of Thursday's meeting between Presidents Xi and Trump. 

Rare earths fell after news that Beijing would delay its export licensing plans while negotiations continue. Trump raised tariffs on Canada because he didn’t like a Canadian ad over the weekend. 

Qualcomm was the hero of the day, announcing competitor AI chips with a 2027 launch date, sending the stock roaring. 

After the bell, Nextera and Google made a splash with a new nuclear power plant deal out in Iowa, reviving an old power plant there that’s expected to turn on by 2029. 

Today’s RIP: Qualcomm said it’s making AI chips too, after the bell reports, tech week previews, and more. 

10 of 11 sectors closed green. Tech $XLK ( ▲ 1.85% ) lead and materials $XLB ( ▼ 0.05% ) lagged.

 $SPY ( ▲ 1.18% )  $QQQ ( ▲ 1.78% )  $IWM ( ▲ 0.35% )  $DIA ( ▲ 0.67% ) 

AFTER THE BELL

Biggest Movers On After The Bell Results 

A day of records as the S&P 500 closed above 6,800 for the first time ended with another round of earnings. If you want previews of stocks reporting tomorrow, skim down below, but stay here for some movers after the bell:

Confluent $CFLT ( ▼ 3.16% ) was climbing 9%, beating sales expectations, the b2b data streaming company showing a 19% bump in sales from last year to $298M. The stock was gaining despite a low next quarter revenue guidance, but traders did not seem to mind after hours. 

Whirlpool $WHR ( ▲ 0.16% ) was falling slightly, the hot tub company pulling in sales in Q3 that beat estimates, up about 1% year over year to $4.03B. Operating margins fell to 5.1%, from 6.6%, and free cash flow fell $52M.

Avis Budget $CAR ( ▼ 1.17% ) was up 5%. The car rental company said revenue was up 1.1%, beating estiamtes at $3.52B. Profit climbed to $10.11/share, 27.9% higher than the street expected. 

$BBBY ( ▲ 0.35% ) was slightly falling, but beat an estimated loss with a slightly smaller 19C/share loss. The company skipped reporting specific forward-looking guidance, and instead, Executive Marcus Lemonis said they expect Bed Bath & Beyond to turn revenue positive in 2026. 

TRENDING TODAY

AI Semiconductors Stealing the Show… Still 

Qualcomm rose was the fortunate son Monday after unveiling AI chips to rival AMD and Nvidia. Qualcomm, known for its mobile and ‘internet of things’ chipsets, is now planning new AI datacenter chipsets. With 72 of its incoming A1200 or A1250 chips in a server rack, Qualcom $QCOM ( ▲ 11.09% ) hopes to become a real player in the high-flying AI world. 

85% of Qualcomm’s revenue comes from its QCT chip businesses, largely for smartphones, which brought in $30B last year. $ARM ( ▲ 4.65% ), the company that develops some of Qualcomm’s chips, climbed on the news. The first customer to use the new chips is a Saudi Arabian AI startup called Humain, according to Bloomberg. Even a small break into the $500B AI semiconductor market could make big changes to Qualcomm’s revenue structure, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts.

Qualcomm has been somewhat left behind in the AI semiconductor boom. Compared to the rest of the semiconductor world, Qualcomm was only gaining 10% this year, compared to a 40% climb in $SOX ( 0.0% ). 

It wasn’t the only news in the Semi space. $AMD ( ▲ 2.67% ) was up again after its Friday Oracle news. AMD was up Monday after a team-up with the U.S. Energy Department to build supercomputers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Tech companies like $HPE ( ▲ 2.89% ) and $ORCL ( ▼ 0.68% ) were also mentioned in the news, coming together under a $1B investment pile to advance nuclear and quantum tech. A real who's who buzzword of a press release.

$GOOG ( ▲ 3.62% ) and its brother $GOOGL ( ▲ 3.6% ) were up, trending higher on Stocks before this week’s earnings report. 

Strive $ASST ( ▲ 49.09% ) was up big time, climbing 46% after investing Mike Alfred said he bought 1M shares in a twitter post. Alfred is on the board of Iren, and is the previous CEO of Digital Assets Data. 

The Vivek Ramswamy (remember him?) co-founded company entered public markets in September through a merger with Asset Entities, and publicly listed company Smeler Scientific $SMLR ( ▲ 31.22% ) with the goal of becoming a Bitcoin treasury company. It bought True North Inc. for an unlisted price, and as of September, holds about 10,000+ Bitcoins. 

POPS & DROPS

Top Stocks News Stories 

1. Cadence Bank rose 5% after Huntington $7.4B all-stock acquisition. 
2. Beyond Meat plunged after Mizuho cut its price target.
3. Gold miners retreated as bullion slipped on U.S.-China trade progress.
4. Critical minerals stocks fell as U.S.-China trade deal optimism grew.
5. Albemarle fell 8.6% after selling majority stake in Ketjen to KPS.
6. Keurig Dr Pepper rose 7% after unveiling $7B financing for JDE Peet’s deal.
7. Dyne Therapeutics rose 40% after Novartis acquired rival Avidity.
8. Intellia Therapeutics fell 43% after pausing two late-stage trials.

PREVIEWS 

Earnings Coming Tomorrow, Here’s What To Look For 

Sofi $SOFI ( ▲ 3.41% ) was climbing, trending before its report coming Tuesday. Here are Street estimates based according to Yahoo Finance for top names reporting Tuesday:

Sofi earnings per share: $0.08, representing 80% year-over-year growth. Revenue: $890.8 million, indicating a 29.2% year-over-year increase. 

Visa Average EPS estimate: $2.97, based on a consensus of 29 analysts. Revenue average estimate: $10.62 billion, based on a consensus of 27 analysts.

JetBlue average EPS estimate is a loss of $0.42, based on the consensus of 14 analysts. Rev estimate: $2.32 billion, representing a 3.3% year-over-year decline.

Paypal average EPS estimate: $1.20. Average Revenue estimate: $8.23 billion.

WHAT’S ON DECK

Tomorrow’s Top Things

Economic data: CB Consumer Confidence (10:00 AM), 7-Year Note Auction (1:00 PM), API Weekly Crude Oil Stock (4:30 PM) 

Pre-Market Earnings: PayPal Holdings ($PYPL), SoFi Techs ($SOFI), UnitedHealth Group ($UNH), Royal Caribbean Gr ($RCL), United Parcel Service ($UPS), and JetBlue Airways ($JBLU).

After-Market Earnings: Visa ($V), ContextLogic ($LOGC), Enphase Energy ($ENPH), and Electronic Arts ($EA).