U.S. stocks closed mixed on Monday after failing to sustain momentum from the first big rally of the year last week.
Technology led the way higher, with the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rising 0.6%, an outlier in the session, though far below the climb of more than 2% that the index saw earlier into trading. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) each turned lower into the close, falling 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively, after paring the day’s gains.
The U.S. dollar continued its slump, while the price of oil rallied to start the week over optimism around demand as China reopens. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, rose 1.4% Monday to trade just below $75 a barrel.
Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said in remarks at the Atlanta Rotary Club on Monday that the U.S. central bank should raise interest rates above 5% by early in the second quarter and then hold them there for a “long time.”
“I am not a pivot guy,” he said. “I think we should pause and hold there, and let the policy work.”
Some of the biggest losers of 2022 led Monday’s push higher. Megacaps including Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) all closed higher.
Tesla (TSLA) was also among the day’s biggest movers, rallying nearly 6%. Beaten-down shares of Coinbase (COIN) surged 15.1%. Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) — a bellwether for speculative technology stocks and a large holder of each of the two aforementioned names — rose 4.6%.
etail stocks were also in focus Monday, with several companies announcing news ahead of the key ICR Conference this week.
Lululemon (LULU) warned it expects fourth-quarter gross margins to decline as the company struggled with increased costs due to an inflation-related slowdown in consumer spending. Shares plunged 9.3%.
Late Friday, Macy’s (M) also cautioned on sales growth, and shares fell 7.6% Monday. Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), in contrast, said its sales decline will likely be less than feared, sending shares up 8.8%.
