S&P 500 Tops 7,400 As Copper Hits Record Highs: Stock Market Today

U.S. equities opened the week on uneven footing on Monday, with the S&P 500 nudging back toward record territory above 7,400 points and small caps leading the tape, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average idled near unchanged.

President Donald Trump set the tone late Sunday, posting on Truth Social that he had just read the response from Iran and dismissed it as “totally unacceptable,” effectively rejecting Tehran’s counter-proposal to end the 10-week conflict.

The S&P 500 added 25 points, or 0.3%, to 7,424, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average held steady at 49,595. The Nasdaq 100 inched 0.2% higher to 29,305 as the chip complex offset weakness in mega-cap software and online platforms.

The small-cap Russell 2000 was the standout, climbing 0.7% to 2,881 and outperforming every other major U.S. benchmark.

Commodities ripped higher across the board. WTI crude climbed 2.5% to $97.78 a barrel and Brent rallied 2.6% to $103.95, with both benchmarks reclaiming the levels they last held before Friday’s risk-off slide.

Copper printed a fresh record high, jumping 3.2% to $6.45 a pound, while silver surged 7.1% to $85.88 an ounce its largest one-day move in weeks as the dollar slipped and inflation hedges came back into vogue. The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) rallied alongside silver’s 7% surge.

On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the April Consumer Price Index report, with expectations pointing to an inflation jump to 3.6% year over year.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose about 4 basis points to 4.39%, the 2-year added a similar amount to 3.93%, and the 30-year touched 4.97%, reflecting fresh inflation risk tied to higher crude prices and a more cautious read on Federal Reserve cuts following Friday’s stronger-than-expected April payrolls report.

According to the Benzinga Pro platform:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) rose 0.3%.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA) slipped 0.1%.
• The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) edged up 0.2%.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rallied 0.7%.

AI Optical Names Explode, Energy And Miners Take The Baton

The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) led the S&P 500 with a 2.0% gain as crude reclaimed the $97 handle, with explorers and oilfield services riding the rally alongside majors like Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX).

The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) added 1.4%, with optical and semiconductor names doing the heavy lifting, while the Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLB) rose 1.2% on the back of copper’s record print and silver’s 7% surge. 

On the downside, the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) fell 1.5%. The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLC) slid 1.1% on Alphabet’s drop, and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) shed 0.5%.

At the industry level, the Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (NYSE:PBW) jumped 4.7%, the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) climbed 3.2% as the metals rally lifted producers. Conversely, the U.S. Global Jets ETF (NYSE:JETS) fell 2.7% on higher jet-fuel costs, and the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (BATS:ITB) slipped 1.4% as long-end yields ticked higher.

Major Moves Concentrated In AI-linked Optical Networking 

Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) exploded 18.1% to $1,067 after Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $1,270 price target, citing the multi-quarter ramp in co-packaged optics tied to AI data-center build-outs. 

Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) rallied 13.8% alongside Lumentum on a parallel Buy initiation with a $455 target. The read-through pulled Corning Inc. (NYSE:GLW) up 10.6%, Ciena Corp. (NYSE:CIEN) up 7.4% and Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) up 7%. 

QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) joined the surge, climbing 10.1% on the same AI-edge thesis, while Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) added 6%.

Everpure Inc. (NYSE:P) — formerly Pure Storage — climbed 13.0% as the AI data-storage rerating accelerated, with traders citing read-through from peer SanDisk’s strong report and ongoing hyperscaler capex commentary from the optical complex.

Rocket Lab Corp. (NASDAQ:RKLB) jumped 13.5% to $119.74, extending Friday’s 34% post-earnings melt-up after the company reported record Q1 revenue of $200.3 million versus $189.4 million expected, a $2.2 billion backlog, and confirmation that Neutron’s stage-separation test campaign is complete.

Monday’s Earnings Movers

• Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG) fell 2% despite a double beat as the company just reiterated the full-year guidance.
• Circle Internet Group Inc. (NYSE:CRCL) rose 11.8% after the stablecoin issuer reported Q1 revenue and reserve income of $694 million, up 20% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA up 24% to $151 million and USDC in circulation at $77 billion. 
• Certara Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) fell 9.4% after the biosimulation specialist’s Q1 missed: revenue of $106.9 million versus the $108.2 million estimate and adjusted EPS of $0.09 against $0.11 expected.
• monday.com Ltd. (NASDAQ:MNDY) climbed 6.5% to $76.73 after the work-management platform reported Q1 revenue of $351.3 million and adjusted EPS of $1.15 – a sizeable 42.0% beat.
• Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B) jumped 8.3% to $46.70 after the diversified industrial posted Q1 revenue of $5.22 billion, a 9.2% beat, and adjusted EPS of $0.98 – 24.1% above consensus.
• EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ:SATS) rose 3.4% to $131.41 after delivering Q1 revenue of $3.67 billion, marginally above estimates, and a narrower-than-expected adjusted loss of $0.51 per share – 17.7% better than the Street had penciled in.

Monday’s Russell 1000 Top Gainers

Russell 1000 Top Losers

Image: Shutterstock