Stocks Surge to Begin Week; Apple Hits All-Time High; Gold Recovers as US Government Shutdown Drags On

As the Government Shutdown Drags On, These Major Economic Reports Are Stuck in Limbo

6 minutes ago

As the government shutdown drags on, the list of skipped economic reports grows longer by the day, leaving the public and policymakers in a data fog.

The government shut down Oct. 1 after Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill couldn’t come to a funding agreement. The shutdown closed much of the federal government, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, and other statistical agencies.

Forecasters don’t expect the impasse to be resolved any time soon, and betting markets are banking on the shutdown lasting for at least a couple more weeks, according to Polymarket.

At 20 days, the shutdown is the third-longest in history as of Monday. The longer shutdowns of 2018 (34 days) and 1995 (21 days) were considered “partial” shutdowns because certain departments remained open. The current shutdown is a “full” shutdown because Congress has not passed funding resolutions for any departments, although it is continuing to carry out certain critical functions including the military operations and Social Security payments.

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

This Wall Street Firm Says Alphabet Stock Is a Better Bet Than Meta. Here’s Why.

19 minutes ago

You don’t necessarily have to choose between the stocks of two Big Tech giants—but if you must, Oppenheimer has a pick for you.

Shares of both Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (META), owner of Facebook and Instagram, have been strong performers this year, outpacing the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS) and the S&P 500.

Still, Oppenheimer’s analysts prefer the former’s shares to the latter’s. On Sunday, they put a $300 price tag on Alphabet, about 18% above Friday’s close and the highest on Wall Street, and an $825 target on Meta, 15% higher than last week’s finish and below Visible Alpha’s analyst average. The Oppenheimer analysts cited what they considered “more conservative” Street estimates on Alphabet, along with a lower valuation on the shares.

“While we are positive on the long-term benefits from Meta’s push into AI and proven ability to outgrow peers,” they wrote, “we are more bullish on [Alphabet] near term, given more conservative estimates and lower valuation.”

While the Magnificent 7 is running ahead of the S&P 500 this year, it’s not surprising that investors might be looking to pick and choose among the group these days: Three of the seven stocks have underperformed the benchmark index year-to-date.

Read the full article here.

–David Marino-Nachison

Steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Says It Wants to Get Into Rare Earths. Its Stock Is Soaring

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Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) popped 20% Monday afternoon after it shared some news along with its third-quarter earnings: The steelmaker said it wants to get into the rare earths mining business.

CEO Lourenco Goncalves said “the renewed importance of rare earths has driven us to re-focus on this potential opportunity at our upstream mining assets.” He added that after looking at its mines, the company believes sites in Michigan and Minnesota show the most promise.

Goncalves said that if the company is successful in producing rare earths, “it would align Cleveland-Cliffs with the broader national strategy for critical material independence, similar to what we achieved in steel.”

Most of the world’s rare earths are produced in China, and American companies that produce them have seen their shares soar recently as the key minerals used in a wide range of high-tech products from electric vehicles to smartphones have become a major source of contention in U.S.-China trade tensions. Shares of other companies in the sector were also higher in recent trading, as President Trump met with Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to sign an agreement on rare earths.

Read the full article here.

–Bill McColl

USMCA Talks Could Shape Next Phase of US Trade Policy

59 minutes ago

President Donald Trump is about to get another chance to massively shape the U.S.’s trade policies.

It’s been six months since Trump upended years of U.S. trade policy with his “Liberation Day” tariffs. Now, the U.S., Mexico and Canada are about to review a major trade agreement Trump secured in his first term. This time, the negotiations over the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) could focus on more than tariffs, as trade barriers, migration, drug trafficking and continental defense will all be part of the talks. 

“How the three nations navigate this moment will shape the region’s economic future for decades,” wrote Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) analysts Diego Marroquín Bitar, Christopher Hernandez-Roy, and Earl Anthony Wayne.

Mexico is the U.S.’s largest trading partner, followed closely by Canada, Census Bureau data showed.

The two countries provide almost 30% of total U.S. trade, with third-place China accounting for less than 8%. While the U.S. has applied additional tariffs on some goods from Canada and Mexico, a broad swath of products that meet USMCA guidelines were exempt from the new import taxes. But that could change if the negotiations alter those guidelines, said Georgetown University government and business professor Marc Busch.

Read the full article here.

–Terry Lane

Tesla Kicks Off Magnificent 7 Earnings This Week After Its Stock Kicked Into High Gear

1 hr 42 min ago

Halfway though 2025, Tesla stock looked like a big-time laggard.

The EV maker’s shares were down more than 20% through the first six months of the year—a stretch that was rough for just about everyone, though by the end of it the S&P 500 and Magnificent Seven group of tech shares had moved back into the green even as Tesla lagged. Then the third quarter happened: Tesla (TSLA) was the best-performing stock in the group of Big Tech elites, and here we are—with the shares now up some 10% since the start of 2025.

Where to next? Investors, at least for now, have signaled that they’re willing to look at the longer-term picture. Non-car-sales things—including optimism about robotaxis and robots, as well as a new pay proposal for Elon Musk and a big stock purchase by the CEO—were tailwinds. Several Wall Street analysts whose price targets hadn’t kept up finally got with it.

“The Tesla story going forward is around the AI transformation being led by the autonomous and robotics initiatives,” Wedbush’s bullish analysts wrote in a note published Sunday.

There will, however, undoubtedly still be plenty of attention on its third-quarter earnings, due Wednesday afternoon.

Deliveries are already in hand, with the company turning in better than expected quarterly numbers, though an update to Tesla’s car lineup will likely mean renewed attention on signs about car demand. (Analysts have dutifully issued estimates: Visible Alpha’s means for revenue and net income are $26.6 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively.)

Read the full article here.

–David Marino-Nachison

Moderna Leads S&P 500 Monday After Flu Vaccine Data

2 hr 45 min ago

Moderna (MRNA) shares were up roughly 7% to pace the S&P 500 Monday, a day after the pharma firm announced data for two influenza vaccine candidates at the IDWeek 2025 conference in Atlanta.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said that mRNA-1010, an mRNA-based flu vaccine, “is safe and efficacious” in adults 50 years or older. It added that a Phase 1/2 clinical study of mRNA-1018, a candidate to prevent H5N1 pandemic flu in healthy adults at least 18 years old demonstrated that across all dose levels, it was “well-tolerated with no safety concerns identified, and demonstrated rapid and persistent immune response.” 

Despite today’s advance, Moderna shares have lost roughly a third of their value this year.

Apple’s iPhone 17 Sales ‘Far Outpace’ Prior Lineup in US and China, Report Shows

3 hr 25 min ago

Apple shares climbed Monday following a report suggesting strong demand for the company’s new iPhone 17 series in the U.S. and China, which account for the bulk of the company’s phone sales.

Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 17 outsold the iPhone 16 by 14% during the first 10 days of availability in the U.S. and China, according to a report from tech product research firm Counterpoint Research.

Shares of Apple climbed close to 3% in recent trading following the news to lead gains on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Counterpoint found the base model of the iPhone 17 was a big driver of sales in China, while the premium iPhone 17 Max saw strong demand in the U.S.

Counterpoint Senior Analyst Mengmeng Zhang pointed to the iPhone 17 base model’s “great value” for its performance, with “a better chip, improved display, higher base storage, selfie camera upgrade—all for the same price as last year’s iPhone 16.” Sales of the iPhone 17 base model in China were nearly double those of the 16 over a comparable period.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro Max saw sales surge in the U.S., as Counterpoint said those who purchased Apple phones during the COVID-19 pandemic moved to upgrade and large carriers enticed buyers with higher subsidies.

–Bill McColl

Amazon Web Services Outage Causes Widespread Disruptions—What You Need to Know

4 hr 17 min ago

Companies that use Amazon Web Services are recovering after a problem with the cloud service disrupted operations at a wide range of companies Monday.

Some of the firms affected included trading platform Coinbase Global (COIN), and Snap’s (SNAP) social media site Snapchat, along with major airlines like Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Airlines (UAL).

Amazon (AMZN) confirmed the glitch at 3:51 a.m. ET, and by 6:35 a.m. ET, said the issue had been “fully mitigated,” with most AWS Service operations back to normal. However, it added that it continued to work on some lingering disruptions.

As of 8:40 a.m. ET, website problem reporting company Downdetector reported nearly 2,000 reports of outages possibly linked to AWS.2

The news sent Amazon shares tumbling in premarket trading, but shares rose close to 1% slightly after the open. They’ve lost about 2% of their value in 2025, compared to a 14% gain for the S&P 500.

–Bill McColl

USA Rare Earths Stock Pops as William Blair Initiates Coverage at ‘Outperform’

4 hr 40 min ago

Analysts from William Blair see plenty of upside for USA Rare Earths (USAR) shares.

The analysts initiated coverage of the stock and four others in the sector with an “outperform” rating, writing in a note to clients that “while many rare earth stocks have hit the cover off the ball in recent weeks, we believe there is still material future upside.”

William Blair noted that the Trump administration recently announced investments in MP Materials (MP), Lithium Americas (LAC), and Trilogy Metals (TMQ), and said that it believes “significant new financial backing and direct government stakes in rare earth companies could provide a second meaningful leg up for several rare earth stocks.”

USA Rare Earths shares, which entered Monday up more than 140% this year, surged 7% at the open.

Trump Aims To Cure High Medicine Prices, But Experts See Serious Side Effects To His Moves

5 hr 34 min ago

The Trump administration has issued a flurry of orders aimed at lowering pharmaceutical prices, but experts are leery that the actions will achieve that goal.

The latest move in Trump’s ongoing campaign to reduce drug prices came late last month when the White House announced a deal between the government and Pfizer (PFE), the multinational company that makes COVID-19 vaccines, Viagra, and other widely used products.

Under the deal, which could serve as a model for agreements with other major manufacturers, the company will sell its products to Medicaid at prices on par with those offered to other developed countries. In addition, the company will offer medications directly to consumers at a discount on Trumprx.gov, a website scheduled to launch in 2026. In return, the company will be exempt from the punishing 100% tariffs Trump is threatening to impose on pharmaceutical imports.

The deal appears to address a longstanding complaint from Trump and U.S. consumer advocacy groups: the sticker prices for many drugs are significantly higher in the U.S. than in Europe. In some cases, drugs that cost thousands of dollars in the U.S. are available for low cost or for free to Europeans. For example, in 2021, a single injection of the arthritis drug Humira cost American patients $3,000, when a generic version was available in Germany for $10, according to reports.

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

Americans Are Already Holiday Shopping. Will They Find the Deals They Hope For?

6 hr 34 min ago

Americans aren’t expected to slash their holiday budgets this year. But they may spend more time hunting for bargains—and find smaller ones than they hoped.

Consumers are expected to approach the year-end shopping season with the same thrifty ethos they’ve adopted for much of 2025 as they look to deal with tariff-fueled price increases, analysts told Investopedia. Keen-to-save shoppers have already started surveying deals well ahead of “Black Friday,” surveys show, but many are holding off on buying.

New National Retail Federation research shows what others have already spotted: Americans plan to shop resale markets, hunt for deals and cut back on some purchases. On average, Americans plan to spend about 1.3% less on gifts, food, decorations and other seasonal items this November and December than a year earlier, the NRF said.

“It’s certainly going to be a weirder holiday season, at least form a consumer and brand perspective,” said Andrew Waber, who studies U.S. transactions on Amazon for PMG, a marketing and digital services company. “Purchase behavior may be a little different than what you expect.”

Read the full article here.

–Sarina Trangle

Stock Futures Tick Higher to Begin Week

7 hr 12 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.1%.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.3% higher.