Stock market news for Nov. 18, 2024

The Nasdaq Composite rose Monday following a rough week, as Tesla shares surged and Wall Street looked ahead to some major market-moving earnings reports.

The Nasdaq advanced 0.6% to settle at 18,791.81, while the S&P 500 added about 0.4% to close at 5,893.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.39 points, or 0.1%, to finish at 43,389.60.

Tesla spearheaded the tech-heavy index’s rally, popping 5.6% amid a Bloomberg News report, citing people familiar with the matter, that President-elect Donald Trump’s team is working on ways to ease regulation on self-driving vehicles. Elsewhere, Apple and Netflix gained 1.3% and 2.8%, respectively, while Advanced Micro Devices surged 3%.

Wednesday’s report from artificial intelligence chip darling Nvidia remains top of mind for investors, and could serve as the next major catalyst as Wall Street searches for signs of resilient demand for its Blackwell AI chips. Shares slipped 1.3% after The Information reported that the chips overheat when connected in servers, citing sources familiar with the matter.

“The star this week is our friend Nvidia,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners, highlighting its importance to all the key indexes with its recent inclusion in the Dow. “Unless some information comes out before then, the market is going to wait and see what’s going on with Nvidia.”

Beyond Nvidia, investors await a batch of earnings from key retailers, which could offer greater insight into the health of the economy and consumer spending. About 93% of S&P 500 companies have reported results so far. More than 74% have topped earnings expectations and 62% have surpassed revenue estimates, according to FactSet.

Monday’s moves follow a tough week for the three major benchmarks, now off the highs seen in the aftermath of Trump’s election victory. That sell-off was driven by concerns about the path for interest rates after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is not “in a hurry” to cut rates given the economy’s strong growth and a solid labor market.

In other news, CVS Health shares popped 5% after agreeing to add four new board members. Super Micro Computer skyrocketed about 16% following a Barron’s report that the AI server maker intends to file a plan for its annual report to avert a Nasdaq delisting.