Stock market today: live updates

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is prepared to oppose any efforts by former President Donald Trump to remove the central bank chief from his post, the Wall Street Journal reported.

To do so, Powell likely would have had to use his own money, as the Fed may not have the authority to address such a challenge, the report added. The question arose after Trump made several public statements condemning Powell and his colleagues during Trump's first term.

So far, there is no sign that Trump has any intention of ousting Powell, although he has indicated that he believes the president should be consulted on Fed interest rate decisions. At a press conference last week, Powell was asked about the possibility of his removal, to which he replied, “not permitted under the law.”

–Jeff Cox

Warner Bros. Discovery could benefit from a Trump victory, according to Wolfe Research.

The investment firm upgraded the media and entertainment conglomerate's shares to a peer perform rating from underperform. Analyst Peter Supino added that his “probability-weighted valuation suggests a stock price of $10,” about 9% above the stock's closing price on Friday of $9.18.

Supino believes Max's strong industry influence could stabilize Warner Bros. Discovery's EBITDA.

“Max's international acceleration, DTC's evolution to significant profitability, and growing interest from traditional TV distributors to offer streaming services and linear networks should provide Warner with FCF to pay down debt and invest in its healthier businesses,” wrote the analyst.

Meanwhile, investor appetite for rebalancing or selling has been low under the Biden administration, but a second Trump presidency could provide relief.

“Trump’s election and Comcast’s strategic initiatives signal increased opportunities for deals that would create value,” Supino added.

—Lisa Kailai Han

Gold prices fell on Monday, hovering near a one-month low.

Gold futures fell 2.3% to around $2,633, the lowest since Oct. 10, when bullion traded at just $2,618.8

—Brian Evans, Gina Francolla

Stocks rose shortly after the opening bell on Monday as Wall Street continues its recovery after last week's election.

The S&P 500 gained 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 353 points, or 0.8%.

—Brian Evans

These are the stocks moving before trading begins on Monday:

• Tesla – Electric vehicle stock rose 7% and appeared poised to build on last week's 29% rise. The Elon Musk-led company has surged following Donald Trump's presidential victory, reaching a market value of over $1 trillion on Friday as investors bet the company will benefit under the new administration.
• Crypto Stocks – Stocks tied to cryptocurrencies rallied, with Bitcoin surpassing $82,000 and hitting new highs, as Wall Street continued to bet that a Trump administration would be more favorable to the crypto industry.
• Cigna – The health insurance giant rose 8% after announcing it is not pursuing a merger with Humana. Cigna also reiterated its guidance for fiscal 2024 and 2025. Humana shares fell 8%.

Read the full list here.

—Samantha Subin

Dell Technologies According to Morgan Stanley, the outlook is bright.

The bank reiterated its overweight rating on the PC maker but raised its price target to $154 from $136. This updated forecast suggests Dell Technologies shares could rise nearly 15% from their current levels.

Analyst Erik Woodring pointed to Dell's strong server momentum as a catalyst. The analyst expects the company's artificial intelligence server prospects to be stronger than previously thought in the second half of 2025 and could rise to $20 billion in 2026.

“While our 3Q24 CIO survey showed that DELL is the best-positioned hardware vendor to capture traditional enterprise spending over the next three years, our recent AI server audits show that the dynamics of AI infrastructure of DELL is increasing even faster,” he wrote. “In fact, we now expect DELL to ship 48,000 8-GPU AI server equivalents in FY26/25, representing 23% year-over-year growth. Our new fiscal 2026 AI server revenue forecast is now just over $20 billion, about 60%. higher than our previous forecast and a few billion dollars above buyer consensus.”

The analyst attributed Dell's acceleration in momentum to factors such as strong customer demand, broad market share gains and repeat customer purchases, as well as a long-term enterprise AI opportunity.

Shares of Dell Technologies are up 75% in 2024 but could rise even further from here, Woodring added.

“While DELL has delivered strong outperformance since the stock's low point three months ago (+49% versus the S&P 500, plus 11%), we believe DELL's outperformance is thanks to these AI server dynamics reflected in our new “FY26 EPS will continue to hold at $10.50, 12% above consensus and a price target of $154,” the analyst noted.

Cisco JPMorgan sees a positive outlook in the medium term.

The bank upgraded shares of the technology and telecommunications company to overweight from neutral. At the same time, analyst Samik Chatterjee raised his price target from $55 to $66.

Cisco shares are up 15% for the year. Chatterjee's new forecast suggests the stock could rise another 14% from its current valuation.

As a catalyst, Chatterjee pointed to potential earnings increases due to a recovery cycle in demand for enterprise networks.

“We found renewed confidence in recent earnings reports from Juniper Networks and Extreme Networks that the path to recovery in the networking space is underway, with both companies highlighting encouraging signs in terms of customer demand and activity,” the analyst wrote.

Meanwhile, the company's recent investments in its security division could boost overall revenue growth. The analyst added that he still sees upside potential for the stock considering historical precedents.

“With a likely return to positive earnings revisions following the recovery in enterprise networking, we expect the relative discount to market value of shares to narrow,” he added.

—Lisa Kailai Han

A more pessimistic outlook for iron ore is likely to weigh on shares valleysays UBS.

The bank downgraded the Brazilian miner's shares to “neutral” from “buy” while lowering its price target to $11.50 from $14. This updated forecast suggests Vale shares could rise another 9% from Friday's close.

Vale shares have fallen 33% in 2024.

“Given increasing macroeconomic risks following the US election, we are cutting our iron ore premium and pellet volume forecasts for 2025/26E and reducing our 2025/26E EBITDA by approximately 9%,” wrote analyst Myles Allsop. “We remain concerned about iron ore fundamentals in the medium term and see a decline in the spot price. In our view, Chinese steel exports are vulnerable to global constraints and are unlikely to be fully offset by stimulus measures.”

More specifically, the analyst believes that iron ore prices could be held at around $100 per ton in 2025 before falling back towards $80 to $90 per ton. However, the company could benefit from lower costs, higher premiums and increasing volumes in the medium term.

Allsop also cited the upcoming Vale Day on December 3 as a possible catalyst. There he expects Vale's new CEO to discuss his key priorities, although this should not significantly change the forecasts as it will take time to implement these initiatives.

“We see a balanced risk/reward trade-off: self-help and the base dividend (~7% yield) limiting the downside, while the difficult outlook for iron ore, increasing macro risks and high cash payouts limit the upside,” Allsop added.

—Lisa Kailai Han

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index led to losses in Asia on Monday as most markets in the region fell, falling 1.62% by the final hour of trading.

This came after China on Friday announced a five-year stimulus package worth 10 trillion yuan, or $1.4 trillion, to address the local government's debt problems. However, some analysts doubt that this will be enough to meaningfully boost growth.

The country's inflation rate also fell to 0.3%, falling short of expectations of 0.4% and also below September's 0.4%.

The CSI 300 in mainland China gained 0.66% to close at 4,131.13.

Japan Nikkei 225 closed slightly higher while the broad-based Topix ended flat.

South Korea Kospi fell 1.15%, while the small-cap Kosdaq lost 1.96%.

—Lim Hui Jie

The market is heading into the next week with momentum.

The Dow And S&P 500 Each rose more than 4% last week, posting its best weeks since November 2023. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose by more than 5%. All three ended Friday's session with all-time closing highs.

The small caps are concentrated elsewhere Russell 2000 rose by more than 8%.

—Alex Harring

S&P 500 futures were nearly unchanged shortly after 6 p.m. ET. Dow futures were also little changed, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%.

—Alex Harring