Stocks were mixed to start the new week. A big rally in energy stocks kept the Dow Jones Industrial Average above water, though the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite weren't so resilient.
Indeed, the Dow rose 0.7% to 39,411 on strength in Chevron (CVX), marking the 30-stock average's fifth-straight gain. The oil stock added 2.6% as U.S. crude futures climbed 1.1% to $81.63 per barrel.
However, the S&P 500 (-0.3% at 5,447) and the Nasdaq (-1.1% at 17,496) each finished lower as mega-cap chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) continued to slide. NVDA ended today down 6.7% and is now in correction territory after falling nearly 13% from its June 18 all-time closing high. This late-June slide has chopped $432 billion from Nvidia's market value, which is more than the entire market cap of credit card giant Mastercard (MA, +0.5%).
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
Even with these recent losses, NVDA has still more than doubled on a year-to-date basis and BofA Securities analyst Vivek Arya thinks any volatility will be short-lived.
For one, we are only in year two of what could be a three-to-five-year deployment cycle for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) hardware, the analyst says. Additionally, Arya expects strong demand for Nvidia's Blackwell AI platform when it is launched later this year.
And "unlike the 'dot-com boom' that was funded by risky debt-taking, GenAI deployment is a mission-critical race between some of the best-funded (cloud) customers," Arya says, adding that NVDA remains a "top pick" at BofA.
Target gains on new Shopify deal
In other single-stock news, Target (TGT, +2.4%) said it teamed up with Shopify (SHOP, -1.1%) to boost the discount retailer's e-commerce sales.
While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the partnership will allow companies working with Shopify to sell items on Target Plus, its third-party marketplace. The retailer will also put certain popular items in its brick-and-mortar stores, one executive told CNBC.
Affirm could double on Apple partnership, analyst says
Elsewhere, Affirm (AFRM) shares jumped 12.8% after Mizuho Securities analyst Dan Dolev said the buy-now-pay-later firm's (BNPL) new partnership with Apple (AAPL, +0.3%) could drive major upside both on and off the price charts. The deal, announced at Apple's WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC) earlier this month, will allow Apple Pay users to access installment loans through Affirm.
"We estimate that the new Apple Pay + Affirm partnership could drive roughly $12 billion potential incremental BNPL opportunity to Affirm, or 35% incremental growth vs fiscal 2025 consensus volume estimates," Dolev wrote in a note to clients. The analyst has a Buy rating on Affirm and a Street-high $65 price target, representing implied upside of 93% to current levels.
EU accuses Apple of violating Digital Market Act
Apple, meanwhile, made its own headlines today after the European Union said the tech giant is blocking developers from offering customers other options outside of its App Store. The charges are the first to be filed under the EU's Digital Market Act, which was passed earlier this year and aims to protect competition in the digital space.
While Apple said in a statement that it is "confident our plan complies with the law," a verdict against the company could result in a fine equivalent to 10% of its global revenue.
Related content
- What Chipotle Stock's 50-for-1 Split Means for Investors
- S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats: Who's Out, Who's In
- Kiplinger's Economic Calendar for This Week
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Rally Despite Rising Geopolitical TensionThe main indexes were mixed on Tuesday but closed well off their lows after an early flight to safety.
-
What's at Stake for Alphabet as DOJ Eyes Google's ChromeAlphabet is higher Tuesday even as antitrust officials at the DOJ support forcing Google to sell its popular web browser. Here's what you need to know.
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Rally Despite Rising Geopolitical Tension
The main indexes were mixed on Tuesday but closed well off their lows after an early flight to safety.
-
What's at Stake for Alphabet as DOJ Eyes Google's Chrome
Alphabet is higher Tuesday even as antitrust officials at the DOJ support forcing Google to sell its popular web browser. Here's what you need to know.
-
Lowe's Stock Is Falling After Earnings. Here's WhyLowe's stock is lower Tuesday as Wall Street weighs a beat-and-raise quarter against declining revenue. This is what you need to know.
-
Why Walmart Stock's a Buy After Its Beat-And-Raise QuarterWalmart is the best Dow Jones stock Tuesday after the retail giant's solid earnings report and outlook and Wall Street thinks it's just getting started. Here's what they're saying.
-
Winners and Losers of Fed Rate CutsNavigating interest-rate changes can seem daunting, but these areas of the fixed-income market could perform better (or worse) than others.
-
Six Ways to Optimize Your Charitable Giving Before Year-EndAs 2024 winds down, right now is the time to look at how you plan to handle your charitable giving. The sooner you start, the more tax-efficient you can be.
-
How Preferred Stocks Can Boost Your Retirement PortfolioHigher yields, priority on dividend payments and the potential for capital appreciation are just three reasons to consider investing in preferred stocks.
-
Structured Settlement Annuity vs Lump-Sum Payout: Which Is Better?As the use of structured settlement annuities grows, it can be tough to decide whether to take the lump sum to invest or opt instead for guaranteed payments.
