U.S. stocks rallied broadly today as investors positioned ahead of a pivotal week packed with major Big Tech earnings and Wednesday’s Fed policy decision. Markets shrugged off speculation surrounding potential leadership changes at the Fed, with risk appetite improving across sectors despite lingering uncertainty over trade policy and government spending battles.
The Dow closed at 49,418, up 319 points or 0.65%, while the S&P 500 ended at 6,933.63, gaining 31.58 points or 0.46%. The Nasdaq outperformed, closing at 23,495.16, up 98 points or 0.42%, and the Russell 2000 finished at 2,552.20, up 4.50 points or 0.17%. The VIX edged up slightly to 14.92, up 0.13 points or 0.87%, reflecting modest caution ahead of key events.
Technology and communication services led the charge, with AAPL surging 2.97%, CSCO up 3.24%, and META advancing 2.1% ahead of quarterly results later this week. MSFT gained 0.9%, while TSLA pulled back 3.1%. Defensive names also found support, with utilities and healthcare participating in the rally.
On the economic front, Consumer Confidence data is due tomorrow, alongside new home sales figures. Major earnings are set to drop from UNH, BA, AAL, GM, UPS, NOC, and HCA, with the mega-cap parade hitting Wednesday and Thursday as MSFT, META, TSLA, AAPL, and others report.
Political noise remained elevated, with Democrats threatening to block a $1.2 trillion spending bill if Homeland Security funding is included, raising the risk of a shutdown despite recent appropriations progress. Trump reiterated threats of a 100% tariff on Canadian imports tied to potential China trade deals, though Ottawa downplayed the concerns.
Safe-haven demand intensified as gold surged to fresh record highs above $5,100 per ounce, reflecting geopolitical and fiscal uncertainty, even as earnings season has remained positive so far.
Silver traded around $108, while oil dipped slightly to $57.67 on oversupply concerns. Bitcoin hung around $91,526, down 2.94% as crypto sentiment remained cautious.
Fear & Greed Index at 62, firmly in greed territory—watch for Fed commentary Wednesday and the mega-cap earnings gauntlet through week’s end.
For you technical geeky wonks. Silver just posted two 4-sigma moves on the same day, rising and falling 14% in a matter of hours. A 4-sigma significance is the 0.003% likelihood of a statistical fluctuation. That just happened twice in one day. Maybe, finally, a short-term top? Gold and silver erase $1.7 trillion in market cap in 90 minutes, in one of the largest reversals in history.
From Donnie today….” I am hereby increasing South Korean tariffs on autos, lumber, pharma, and all other reciprocal tariffs, from 15% to 25%”.
Fun fact………………The Korean stock market is on fire: Investors have bought a net +$96 billion worth of Korean stocks since 2019. Since 2025 alone, net purchases reached +$35 billion, or 36% of the total. South Korea has been the best-performing world market over the last year, gaining +99% during this time. This has been fueled by AI-driven demand in the tech-heavy market, with Samsung and SK Hynix, the two most valuable stocks, rallying +186% and +287%, respectively. As a result, the entire market has surged to a record $3.1 trillion in value, nearly matching Germany. South Korea has become a global AI powerhouse.
Fun fact: Last month, Rep. Kevin Hern sold up to $500,000 worth of UnitedHealth stock. Today, the Trump administration proposed flat Medicare reimbursement rates for insurers, causing $UNH to crash over 10%. Hern is a member of the House Subcommittee on Health.
See you in the morning.