Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on June 23, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
U.S. stocks were little changed early Monday, with the market once again on the cusp of all-time highs ahead of a week of key inflation reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 123 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 added 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded 0.2% higher.
Inflation readings this week will prove a key hurdle for a broad market index near record highs. The consumer price index, which is set to be released Tuesday, and the producer price index, due out Thursday, will be critical in shaping the outlook for the direction of interest rates, especially for the Federal Reserve’s September meeting. Hotter inflation prints could hinder the market’s advance.
“The most important thing is the CPI data,” said Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets. “That will definitely dictate monetary policy.”
The inflation data comes ahead of the Fed’s Jackson Hole meeting in Wyoming on Aug. 21-23, which could set the tone for the September meeting. While the market is now pricing in an 87% chance of a rate cut next month, CFRA Research’s Sam Stovall told CNBC that investors may be getting ahead of themselves.
“I’m getting a little concerned that the market is going to end up being disappointed,” the chief investment strategist said. “The Fed will have a conundrum to deal with if inflation remains sticky and if the consumer remains willing to spend — where is the need to cut rates?”
The Nasdaq ended last week at fresh closing highs, and the S&P 500 closed on the threshold of another milestone. The Dow also finished the week on a high note.
“Wall Street is probably breathing a sigh of relief, because we did have a nice bounce back last week from the sell-off experience the week before as a result of that very disappointing employment report,” Stovall said.
Still, the latest advance has some investors wondering how much longer the stock market can skirt pitfalls, given sky-high valuations, a dimming macroeconomic outlook and tariff fallout all during a period of seasonal weakness.
“We are probably going to be more in a digestion phase than anything else,” Woods said. He added, “We may get a little bit of sideways action in this market, which is not a bad thing.”
Stocks making the biggest moves midday
- E.l.f. Beauty — Morgan Stanley upgraded the beauty brand to overweight from equal-weight, prompting the stock to pop more than 9%. The bank said the consensus earnings estimate for Elf is “way too low,” seeing catalysts from product pricing and acquisition contribution of Rhode.
- Owens & Minor — The health care logistics company plunged 32% after management said on its second-quarter earnings call that stranded costs will continue to rise, and that it will focus on reducing such costs to improve profits, according to StreetAccount. Results will eventually be helped by the divestiture of its Products & Healthcare Services unit in the second half, the company said.
- AAON – Shares of the HVAC company dropped more than 12% after its second-quarter results missed analyst estimates on the top and bottom lines. AAON posted adjusted earnings of 22 cents per share on revenue of $311.6 million for the quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had estimated 33 cents per share on $325 million in revenue. The company also cut its full-year sales guidance.
Read the full list here.
— Fred Imbert
Notable stocks reporting earnings this week
People walk past an AMC theatre in Manhattan in New York City, U.S., February 25, 2025.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
UBS raises S&P 500 price target to 6,100 by year’s end
In a Monday note, UBS raised its price target for the S&P 500 to 6,100 from 5,500 by the end of 2025.
The benchmark closed on Friday at 6,389.45. The bank’s forecast implies a 4.5% decrease this year. UBS also instated a price target of 6,800 for the end of 2026, which corresponds to a 6.4% upside from the S&P’s Friday close.
UBS wrote that these two forecasts highlight that a number of headwinds have begun to materialize on the horizon.
“This drives us to call the market lower in the near-term and to expect it to remain below current levels even by end ’25. We then see a smart recovery in H2 ’26,” the bank said.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Hershey falls 5%, leading S&P 500 to downside on Monday
Hershey, last down 5%, led the S&P 500 to the downside on Monday morning.
HSY 5D chart
The confectionary maker fell after cocoa futures rose 10% on the day, hitting a high of $8,823, or their highest level since July 1.
— Nick Wells, Lisa Kailai Han
Ford announces $2 billion investment in Louisville assembly plant
In an aerial view, vehicles are seen for sale on a lot at a dealership on April 18, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
On Monday, Ford announced it would invest $2 billion in an assembly plant in Louisville, Kentucky.
The plant is aimed at rolling out cheaper electric vehicles. Ford has already planned a $3 billion battery park in Michigan. These facilities, when combined together, could create or secure almost 4,000 new jobs, the company said in a news release.
“We took a radical approach to a very hard challenge: Create affordable vehicles that delight customers in every way that matters – design, innovation, flexibility, space, driving pleasure, and cost of ownership – and do it with American workers,” Ford said in the release.
— Ali McCadden, Sara Salinas, Lisa Kailai Han
Dollar index hits highest level since August 1
The dollar index hit a high of 99.32 on Monday, or its highest level since August 1, when the index hit a high of 100.257.
.DXY 1M chart
The dollar index measures the value of the greenback versus a basket of other top currencies.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Cannabis stocks jump
File: Hundreds of advocates for marijuana legalization rally and smoke pot outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 02, 2016.
Marvin Joseph | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Cannabis stocks jumped after The Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump was considering reclassifying marijuana to a lower danger level, citing people familiar with the mater.
Trump told attendees that he was considering the matter at a fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club earlier this month, sources said. Under federal law, cannabis is currently classified as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and cocaine. Previous discussions have revolved around moving the drug to Schedule III, which includes steroids and Tylenol with codeine.
Shares of Tilray Brands, Canopy Growth and Cronos Group respectively surged 23%, 19% and 11%.
Cannabis stocks 5D chart
— Alex Harring, Brandon Gomez, Lisa Kailai Han
Stocks are little changed to kick off new trading week
Paramount Skydance, Nvidia, C3.ai among stocks making biggest premarket moves
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
- Paramount Skydance, TKO Group — Shares of Paramount Skydance gained 4% after the media company acquired the U.S. rights to TKO Group’s UFC for seven years, beginning in 2026, according to a statement from the companies. TKO shares added roughly 2%.
- C3.ai — The AI software company plunged nearly 32% in the premarket after it issued guidance for the fiscal first quarter. C3.ai expects revenue to range between $70.2 million and $70.4 million. Its non-GAAP loss is expected to come in between $57.7 million and $57.9 million.
- Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices — Shares of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices each shed about 1% in premarket trading after closing an unprecedented arrangement with the Trump administration. Both chip companies agreed to give the U.S. government 15% of their revenue from chips sold to China in exchange for export licenses, the Financial Times reported.
For the full list, read here.
— Pia Singh
Paramount acquires rights to UFC for $7.7 billion
Anthony Hernandez reacts after a submission victory against Roman Dolidze of Georgia in a middleweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on August 09, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jeff Bottari | Ufc | Getty Images
Paramount has acquired the U.S. rights to TKO Group‘s UFC for $7.7 billion over the next seven years, beginning in 2026.
Shares of Paramount were last trading 5% higher in Monday’s premarket hours.
PSKY 5D chart
In the U.S., UFC’s full slate of 43 annual live events will be exclusively streamed on Paramount+.
This news comes days after Paramount completed its merger with Skydance.
— Alex Sherman, Lisa Kailai Han
D.A. Davidson downgrades C3.ai to underperform rating
D.A. Davidson downgraded C3.ai after the artificial intelligence company guided for fiscal first-quarter revenue in the range of $70.2 million to $70.4 million. Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting $104.0 million.
Specifically, the firm downgraded the stock to an underperform rating from neutral.
“The company also announcing a restructured sales and services organization bringing in new leaders across regions,” wrote analyst Lucky Schreiner. “We have previously lacked conviction around the durability of growth given an increasing reliance on nonrecurring revenue and suspect the preliminary results reflect this trend. It is likely the business gets worse before it gets better from here.”
The analyst accompanied the move by lowering his price target to $13 per share from $25. This updated price forecast implies a downside of more than 41%.
— Lisa Kailai Han
C3.ai plunges on fiscal Q1 guidance
C3.ai shares plunged nearly 30% in the premarket after the company issued guidance for the fiscal first quarter. The AI software company expects revenue to range between $70.2 million and $70.4 million. Its non-GAAP loss is expected to come in between $57.7 million and $57.9 million.
AI 5-day chart
— Fred Imbert
Ethereum stocks surge premarket after ether jumps to 2021 highs
Representation of Ethereum, with its native cryptocurrency ether.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
Stocks tied to the price of ether rallied on Monday morning after the price of the cryptocurrency climbed over the weekend to levels not seen since 2021.
Shares of Bitmine Immersion Technologies and SharpLink Gaming were each higher by 8% in premarket trading.
Bitmine on Friday closed up more than 24%. Last week, ether ETFs saw greater inflows ($326.83 million) than bitcoin ETFs ($246.75 million), according to SoSoValue. The price of ether broke the $4,000 level on Friday for the first time since December.
Ether (ETH) 1-year
Ether treasury companies have emerged in recent months as positive regulatory momentum has boosted interest by institutions and brands alike in stablecoins and tokenization of traditional assets – activity largely powered by the Ethereum network. Inflows into these companies have helped push ether above $4,000 – historically a challenging level for investors psychologically and technically.
— Tanaya Macheel
Melius Research says sell Adobe
Melius Research downgraded Adobe to sell from hold, citing the proliferation of artificial intelligence.
“The world is coming around to the reality that ‘AI is eating software.’ This thesis postulates that the once easy living of ‘Software Eating the World’ is completely unwinding for leading SaaS companies. Former darlings like Adobe, Atlassian and Salesforce are all down more than 20% YTD and still going. We’ve highlighted this theme for some time … but it is still worth highlighting since it could actually get worse – and we’ve even seen this before,” analyst Ben Reitzes wrote.
His $310 price target implies 9.1% downside. Shares fell more than 1% following the downgrade.
ADBE 5-day charts
— Fred Imbert
Nvidia, AMD to pay 15% of China chip sales revenues to U.S., FT reports
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang attends an event, “Investing in America,” held by President Donald Trump in Washington, April 30, 2025.
Leah Millis | Reuters
Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices have agreed to give the U.S. government a share of revenues from certain chips sold in China, the Financial Times reported, in an unprecedented arrangement with the White House.
In exchange for 15% of revenues from the chips, the two chipmakers will receive export licenses to sell Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 chips in China, according to the FT.
The arrangement comes after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with Trump last week, according to the Financial Times.
Read the complete Financial Times report here.
— Erin Doherty
Nvidia claps back against Chinese accusations its H20 chips pose a security risk
Visitors visit the NVIDIA booth at the 3rd China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, China, on July 20, 2025.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Chip giant Nvidia pushed back Sunday in response to allegations from Chinese state media that its H20 artificial intelligence chips are a national security risk for China.
Earlier in the day, Reuters reported Yuyuan Tantian, an account affiliated with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, said in an article published on WeChat that the Nvidia H20 chips are not technologically advanced or environmentally friendly.
“When a type of chip is neither environmentally friendly, nor advanced, nor safe, as consumers, we certainly have the option not to buy it,” the Yuyuan Tantian article reportedly said, adding that the article said chips could achieve functions including “remote shutdown” through a hardware “backdoor.”
In response, a Nvidia spokesperson told CNBC that “cybersecurity is critically important to us. NVIDIA does not have ‘backdoors’ in our chips that would give anyone a remote way to access or control them.”
Nvidia on Tuesday rejected similar accusations.
For more, read here.
— Pia Singh
Stock futures open slightly higher
U.S. stock futures opened slightly higher Sunday night.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 56 points, or 0.09%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.1% and 0.1%, respectively.
— Sarah Min
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