Major Stock Indexes Erase Losses, Tick Higher Despite DOJ Probe Into Fed Chair Powell; S&P 500, Gold, Silver Set New All-Time Highs

Is Walmart a Tech Stock? Its Planned Move to the Nasdaq 100 Is a Vote for ‘Yes’

FROM 4 minutes ago

Walmart is getting the recognition it’s been seeking for its e-commerce prowess.

The retail giant will move to the Nasdaq 100—an index tracking the 100 largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq —before the market opens on Jan. 20, the exchange operator said Friday. Walmart (WMT) has spent months highlighting its marketplace and delivery services, fueling speculation that it was eyeing the list seen as a tech-sector bellwether.

Walmart will replace pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (AZN). The move comes about a month after Walmart left the New York Stock Exchange for the Nasdaq, which is home to tech giants like Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN) and Meta (META).

The Nasdaq is a better fit for Walmart’s tech-centric approach, company executives have said. The retailer’s business no longer centers around a portfolio of big-box stores, they said, highlighting its booming delivery service, automated fulfillment centers and third-party marketplace.

“The results we’re delivering today are powered by our people and by technology,” CEO Douglas McMillon told investors on a November conference call, according to a transcript from AlphaSense. “We continue to get better at putting our data to work, building more capable tech products, and platforms, and by deploying physical automation.”

McMillon highlighted the “digital acumen” of John Furner, head of Walmart U.S., when announcing in November that Furner will succeed him. Furner will lead the company through an “AI-driven transformation,” McMillon said.

Read the full article here.

–Sarina Trangle

Gold Surges to Record High as Powell Probe Revives Concerns About Fed Independence

FROM 49 minutes ago

Gold prices surged to a record high Monday as investors turned to the traditional safe haven amid fresh concerns that the independence of the Federal Reserve could be jeopardized.

The Justice Department on Friday threatened Fed Chair Jerome Powell with criminal indictment related to his testimony before the Senate last June, according to a statement released Sunday. Powell dismissed the Justice Department’s investigation into his testimony as “pretexts” for the White House to resume pressuring the Fed to lower interest rates at the president’s behest. 

“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” said Powell on Sunday. 

Gold futures were up nearly 2.7% at $4,625 an ounce recently, after hitting an all-time high of $4,640 earlier in the day.

The precious metal rallied more than 4% last week, driven in part by investor concerns about sticky inflation and expectations for more interest rate cuts from the Fed this year, according to John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer.

Read the full article here.

–Colin Laidley

What Airline Earnings Could Say About Travel Trends in 2026

FROM 1 hour ago

Investors could get an early peek into the outlook for travel demand this year as major airlines start reporting earnings this week.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) is set to lead the way with its results on Tuesday. Several others will follow later in the month, with United Airlines (UAL) reporting on Jan. 21, Alaska Airlines (ALK) on Jan. 23, and Southwest Airlines (LUV) scheduled for Jan. 29.

UBS analysts told clients last week that investors will likely focus more on forecasts for 2026 than the fourth-quarter results, which were disrupted by a U.S. government shutdown and severe winter weather. They expect airlines could offer relatively bullish outlooks for 2026, helped by lower fuel prices and a likely recovery in demand after the shutdown ended, among other things.

Earnings and comments from executives across a wide swath of industries last year revealed that many Americans are feeling pressured financially, which has impacted travel demand. Higher-income consumers have largely kept spending, however, leading airlines such as Delta to grow their premium products.

Bank of America analysts suggested these “K-shaped” spending trends could continue, with higher-income consumers likely to drive sales, as premium revenue outpaces basic cabin growth.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley said airlines could be cautious in their outlooks for 2026, writing they “might be wary of showing an overly optimistic hand and might look to beat conservative guides through the year instead.”

–Aaron McDade

Financial Stocks Lead S&P 500 Sector Declines Monday After Trump Post on Credit Card Interest Rates

FROM 1 hr 37 min ago

On a day when four of the seven biggest decliners in the S&P 500 are credit card issuers, it should come as no surprise that the financial sector was the worst performer in the benchmark index.

The S&P 500 Financials Sector was down 1.1% in recent trading, the biggest decliner of the 11 industries tracked by the index.

Synchrony Financial (SYF), Capital One Financial (COF), American Express (AXP), and Citigroup (C) dotted the list of worst-performing individual stocks, registering recent declines of a respective 8.5%, 6.5%, 4.1%, and 3.7%.

Shares of companies in the sector sank after President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social network that on Jan. 20, the one-year anniversary of his administration, he was “calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%.”

Powell Pushes Back on Trump Administration ‘Intimidation’ Amid Concerns About Fed Independence

FROM 1 hr 52 min ago

In an unprecedented move, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell accused President Donald Trump’s administration of waging an intimidation war against the nation’s independent central bank.

Powell’s remarks, issued in a video released Sunday by the Fed, came after the Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation of Powell on Friday and issued Grand Jury subpoenas related to his testimony to the Senate in June about renovations at the Fed’s headquarters.

The investigation is the latest move in an ongoing campaign by Trump to take charge of the Fed, which was set up by Congress to be independent from direct control of the White House. Trump has repeatedly demanded the Fed dramatically lower its key interest rate. Powell and the other members of the Fed’s policy committee have lowered rates gradually to support the job market, but have avoided slashing them as much as Trump wants out of concern that setting rates too low could stoke inflation.

In recent months, Powell has defended the Fed’s independence but has avoided commenting directly on Trump’s attacks. That changed on Sunday.

In his remarks, Powell said that he would stay on the job despite the investigation and called the accusations against him “pretexts.”

“This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings,” he added. “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

Warren Buffett Breaks Down the Habit That’s Keeping Investors From Bigger Gains

FROM 2 hr 5 min ago

You may have heard that most day traders lose money over time, and that passive index investing is the way to go. But the truth behind this advice isn’t entirely about timing or skill.

Indeed, Warren Buffett has been saying for years that investors shoot themselves in the foot by trading too frequently because of costs. In his 2016 annual letter to shareholders, the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) chair explained that after the market’s “active investors” pay layers of management, performance, and transaction fees, “their aggregate results after these costs will be worse than those of the passive investors.”

Translation: the more frequently you buy and sell, the more you enrich Wall Street at your own expense.

Buffett’s advice divides the investing world into two groups: passive indexers and active traders. Because these represent the market collectively, their gross returns, before expenses, must roughly track each other.

Cost, therefore, is where the difference shows up. Active funds pay research staff, portfolio managers, marketing teams, and, crucially, trading spreads each time they shuffle positions. Those expenses “skyrocket,” Buffett warns, turning a market‑matching gross return into market‑lagging net performance.

Read the full article here.

–Adam Hayes

Google Parent Alphabet Hits $4 Trillion Market Cap

FROM 2 hr 31 min ago

And then there were four.

Alphabet (GOOGL) became the fourth publicly traded company to hit the $4 trillion mark in market capitalization Monday morning.

Shares were up 0.4% in recent trading following news that Apple (AAPL) had picked the Google parent’s Gemini to power AI initiatives for its Siri virtual assistant.

Last Wednesday, Alphabet surpassed Apple to take over the No. 2 spot in market cap ranking, trailing only Nvidia (NVDA), which has a market cap of $4.5 trillion.

Nvidia became the first public company ever to surpass the $4 trillion threshold last July 9, and Microsoft (MSFT) followed weeks later, on July 31. Apple achieved the feat on Oct. 28.

As of noon ET Monday, Apple ranked third in market cap at about $3.85 trillion, and Microsoft was fourth at $3.56 trillion.

QXO Stock Rises on Down Day on Upsized Equity Investment

FROM 3 hr 38 min ago

More companies want in on Brad Jacobs’ plans for QXO.

A week after QXO (QXO) announced that an Apollo Global Management-led group had made a $1.2 billion convertible preferred equity investment to help fund future acquisitions, the Greenwich, Conn.-based roofing and waterproofing firm said it had been upsized to $3 billion.

The company said the $1.8 billion additional capital was led by Temasek—the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore—as well as Apollo, and “further strengthens QXO’s financial flexibility to pursue strategic acquisition opportunities.”

Shares of QXO, which is led by serial entrepreneur Jacobs, rose 3% on a down day for stocks overall, and have added nearly two-thirds of their value over the past year.

Big Bank Stocks Are Tumbling After Trump Said This

FROM 4 hr 8 min ago

A number of banking and financial stocks slumped Monday morning after President Donald Trump over the weekend suggested capping credit card interest rates.

Trump posted on social media late Friday that Americans are being “ripped off” by interest rates of 20% to 30%, and said that effective Jan. 20 he would be calling for a one-year cap of 10%. How the cap would be implemented remains unclear.

Capital One Financial (COF) shares plunged over 5% in Monday morning, while shares of Citigroup (C) and American Express (AXP) were each down 3%. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC) each fell between 1% and 2%. Shares of Synchrony Financial (SYF) declined close to 7%, with Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) losing about 3%.

Executives from several of those institutions will get a chance to respond to that idea this week as big banks kick off earnings season, starting with JPMorgan on Tuesday.

Financial stocks may also feeling the impact of the Trump administration’s latest pressure on the Federal Reserve, which sets the target federal funds rate that influences rates on a wide range of consumer loans. Late Sunday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank received subpoenas on Friday for a grand jury investigation into his testimony to Congress last year about the Fed’s renovation that has been the subject of attacks from Trump. Powell said the investigation is politically motivated and comes after the Fed did not lower rates as quickly as the president wanted.

–Aaron McDade

Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Plummets Following Revised Outlook

FROM 4 hr 49 min ago

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) didn’t tinker with its fiscal 2025 guidance much, but investors sure aren’t pleased.

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch sank 19% Monday morning after the New Albany, Ohio-based retailer revised its full-year net sales projection to “growth of at least 6%” from the prior “growth in the range of 6% to 7%.” The company also narrowed its full-year earnings per share forecast to a range of $10.30 to $10.40 from the previous $10.20 to $10.50.

However, Visible Alpha consensus called for 6.49% net sales growth and EPS of $10.37.

Abercrombie & Fitch shares have lost about 37% of their value over the past year.

Trump Unveils New Strategy to Slash Mortgage Rates. What It Could Mean for Homebuyers

FROM 5 hr 14 min ago

President Trump has ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds, a move aimed at lowering rates that have kept many would-be homeowners stuck on the sidelines.

“I am instructing my Representatives to BUY $200 BILLION DOLLARS IN MORTGAGE BONDS. This will drive Mortgage Rates DOWN, monthly payments DOWN, and make the cost of owning a home more affordable,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte confirmed on social media that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will conduct the mortgage bond purchases.

Markets responded quickly. The 30-year mortgage rate dropped on Friday to near 6%, its lowest level since early 2023, according to Mortgage News Daily.

Read the full article here.

–Terry Lane

It’s President Trump’s Second Year. Here’s What That Could Mean for Stocks in 2026

FROM 5 hr 53 min ago

Could the second year of President Donald Trump’s second term buck theories suggesting headwinds for stocks? The data points to the likelihood of tough times ahead—but history doesn’t tell the whole story.

The second year of a presidential term tends to be the weakest of the four-year cycle, if the “Presidential Election Cycle Theory” is to be believed. The theory, coined by Stock Trader’s Almanac founder Yale Hirsch, holds that U.S. stocks tend to perform relatively poorly in the first year following a presidential election, with an even weaker second year, before a stronger second half of the term. 

Early reactions to new policies aimed at fulfilling campaign promises, along with political uncertainty heading into midterm elections, have been posited as explanations for trends pointing to weaker performance in the first half of a term. Efforts to shore up the economy and gain influence ahead of the next election are typically seen as helping returns in the second half.

Bank of America analysts warned clients last week that historical returns supporting the theory would suggest market underperformance this year, before likely giving way to a stronger 2027.

Since 1940, the S&P 500 has risen an average of 4.2% in the second years of presidential terms, compared to an average annual gain of about 9% over the full period, the analysts observed. Most of that relative pressure could come heading into midterms, the analysts said, even with the possibility that the fourth quarter of 2026 could bring a Santa Claus rally, lifting markets to close out the year.

Read the full article here.

–Kara Greenberg

Sun Country Airlines Stock Pops After Allegiant Buys Fellow Budget Carrier

FROM 6 hr 57 min ago

Investors see sunshine for Sun Country Airlines Holdings (SNCY) stock.

Sun Country shares soared 13% in premarket trading Monday, a day after the airline agreed to combine with fellow ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT) to “create a leading leisure-focused U.S. airline.”

Las Vegas-based Allegiant will acquire Minneapolis-based Sun Country for $1.5 billion in cash and stock, including $400 million of net debt. Allegiant stock reversed earlier gains and were down 3% before the bell.

Upon closing, which is expected in the second half of 2026, Allegiant and Sun Country shareholders would own about 67% and 33%, respectively, of the combined company, which would continue under the Allegiant name. Each would operate separately until they obtain a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Allegiant CEO Gregory Anderson would serve as the combined company’s CEO, while Sun Country CEO Jude Bricker would join the board and serve as an advisor to Anderson. The new company would be headquartered in Las Vegas but would “maintain a significant presence in Minneapolis-St. Paul,” according to the release announcing the deal.

“Allegiant and Sun Country are well positioned to create one of the most adaptable and resilient airline models in the industry, with the ability to respond quickly to changing market conditions, traveler demand, and charter and cargo partner needs,” the release said. “The combination of two financially strong leisure carriers in the U.S. will create benefits for customers, communities, employees, and partners by enhancing stability, expanding opportunities, and enabling continued investment and innovation.”

The deal likely would not face substantial regulatory concern, as the carriers have served different markets. Allegiant flies routes with little competition from small cities, while Sun Country handles cargo flights for Amazon (AMZN), charter routes, and scheduled flights across the U.S. and to international destinations in Mexico, Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Stock Futures Sink, Gold Sets New Record High After DOJ Opens Probe Into Fed Chair Powell

FROM 7 hr 53 min ago

Futures contracts associated with the Dow Jones Industrial Average pointed down 0.7%.

S&P 500 futures declined 0.6%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.8% lower.