US equity benchmarks rose on Monday, building on gains from last week’s post-election rally as major averages hit record highs.
Last week’s rally saw S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average experiencing their best weeks in nearly a year.
Dow Jones also crossed 44,000 points for the first time last week and hit a fresh record high again in Monday’s session.
At the time of writing, the Dow Jones was 0.9% higher, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to post a fresh lifetime high. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3%.
Most of the rally found legs last Wednesday when Republic Donald Trump secured victory in the 2024 US presidential elections.
Traders also assessed the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday.
“Investors hate uncertainty, and, with the election decided, markets now have clarity, and can lay fears of a contested election to rest,” Northern Trust investment chief Katie Nixon was quoted by CNBC in a report.
Investors can now train their focus on what matters most to markets — economic and corporate fundamentals.
Traders will be monitoring the release of the US consumer price index data later this week for further cues about the country’s inflation.
Tesla jumps
Shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla, jumped 7% during Monday’s session.
The stock looked poised to build on last week’s rise of 29%. Last week, the stock also hit the $ 1 trillion market cap for the first time ever.
Investors see the stock as an opportunity for further gains as Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has close ties with President-elect Trump.
The market expects Tesla’s business to benefit under the new Trump administration in the coming years.
Meanwhile, Trump Media & Technology rallied 8% on Monday as investors remained interested in the stock. Trump has a majority stake in the company.
Dell and Cisco rise on robust outlooks
Morgan Stanley on Monday hiked Dell Technologies’ price target to 15% above its current price.
The bank also reiterated its overweight weighting on the stock. The updated forecast indicated that Dell’s stock could rise as much as 15% from current levels.
Shares of Dell Technologies have gained 75% from the beginning of the year and could rise further in the last few weeks of 2024.
At the time of writing, shares of Dell were more than 2.1% higher from the previous close.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan upgraded Cisco Systems Inc’s stock to overweight from a neutral rating on Monday.
Shares of technology and telecommunications companies soared 15% since the start of this year.
Gold slips, Bitcoin breaches $84,000
Gold prices slipped more than 2.3% on Monday as a strong dollar post-Trump election victory continued to batter the yellow metal.
Prices were also under pressure as Trump’s policies could raise inflation in the US, which could lead to a slower rate-cut cycle by the US Fed.
At the time of writing, gold prices on COMEX were at their lowest since October 10 at $2,633 per ounce.
Meanwhile, gold faced competition from Bitcoin on Monday.
The cryptocurrency topped $84,000 for the first time as Wall Street continued its postelection rally.
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