U.S. equities opened the week on a positive note, with the Nasdaq Composite surging ahead on the strength of major technology companies amid cautious optimism over earnings and interest rate outlooks.
U.S. stocks started the week on firmer footing, with the Nasdaq Composite leading the advance as investors favoured big technology shares and looked ahead to earnings. The broader market also rose, but the gains were uneven, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average trailing the technology-heavy benchmarks even as it ended higher.
Monday’s move came as traders continued to balance optimism about corporate profits against the prospect of interest rates staying higher for longer. A weaker-than-expected labour market reading on Friday helped ease worries about another Federal Reserve rate increase this month, but Treasury yields remained elevated, leaving valuations vulnerable if inflation proves sticky. The Fed’s meeting minutes due on Wednesday are now in focus for clues about how policymakers are assessing growth and price pressures.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.05%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.66% and the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.87%. The Dow added 0.18%, and the Russell 2000, which tracks smaller companies, increased 0.50%. That pattern again underscored how concentrated the market’s strength remains, with the largest technology names still doing much of the lifting. Reuters has noted in earlier market coverage that index gains can conceal sharp divergence beneath the surface, particularly when investors are rewarding a narrow group of leaders.
Among the so-called Magnificent Seven, five shares moved higher. Tesla, Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Alphabet all advanced, while Apple and Amazon edged lower. Nvidia hit another record close, reinforcing its status as one of the clearest beneficiaries of the artificial-intelligence trade. The split inside the group also showed that investors are still differentiating among individual companies rather than treating large technology as a single trade.
Beyond the biggest names, several stocks posted strong gains, including Moderna, Western Digital, Shopify, AppLovin, Alibaba, Intuitive Surgical, Alcoa and Astera Labs. But the list of decliners was just as telling, with Lennar, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, Corning, Credo Technology, Intel, CoreWeave and United Airlines all moving lower. That contrast suggests buyers were selective rather than broadly aggressive, even on a positive day for the market.
The same pattern was visible in Europe, where most major indices finished higher but France lagged as investors remained concerned about the country’s fiscal outlook and political divisions. German, British, Spanish and Italian benchmarks all rose, while the CAC 40 fell. French government borrowing costs stayed elevated, with the 10-year yield having recently approached 5%, a sign of investor unease over deficit reduction and the risk that political deadlock could make spending restraint harder to deliver. Similar concerns have also weighed on broader European sentiment as traders consider whether higher bond yields could spill over into equity valuations more widely.
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