S&P 500 closes little changed on Monday as rising Treasury yields weigh on stocks: Live updates

U.S. stocks ended Monday's session relatively flat.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down about 11 points, or 0.03%. The S&P 500 ticked lower 0.04%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.03%.

— Hakyung Kim

The energy sector has pulled up from behind to overtake the broader market this year as a surge in crude prices pushes stocks to all-time highs.

The energy sector has gained more 17% this year, compared to a 9% gain for the S&P 500.

Exxon Mobil hit an all-time intraday high of $122.15 on Friday and has gained more than 21% for the year. The refiners Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66 and Valero also hit all-time highs on Friday. Those stocks are up 47%, 27% and 40%, respectively, for the year.

Diamondback Energy is trading at all-time highs Monday dating back to its initial public offering in October 2012, while ConocoPhillips is at levels not seen since November 2022.

The energy rally may still have room to run given that the sector is still underperforming the broader market by 15% over the past year. Many momentum funds have not included the sector yet because they look at 12 months' performance.

"This suggests there is likely more upside for the group, as it just broke out of a two-year base with relative strength turning up," Jonathan Krinsky, a technical analyst with BTIG, told clients Sunday.

— Spencer Kimball

Recent data supporting a recovery in manufacturing activity and "signs of life" in inflation are some of the factors pointing to an impending market slowdown, according to Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management.

"This repricing of rates, I think, is very important because it is telling you that we've been waiting for this slowdown for so long. Why isn't everyone expecting this rate slowdown to come in the next several quarters, in particular with the tailwind of the stock market up $10 trillion since the November FOMC meeting?" Slok told CNBC earlier Monday. "We have a dramatic tailwind to consumption and to capex over the coming quarters that will continue to support inflation to the upside."

Against this backdrop, Slok pointed out that gains in equity market are spreading to other sectors beyond technology. He advised investors to seek out winners and losers from a "bottom-up perspective," rather than just reaching for the "Magnificent Seven," which posted sky-high returns last year.

— Pia Singh

With first-quarter earnings season set to begin Friday with the big banks, investors are looking to see if companies can continue to outperform.

LPL Financial chief equity strategist Jeffrey Buchbinder says the upcoming earnings season "will seem quite similar to the fourth in terms of growth and drivers, with mega cap technology leading the way." Buchbinder forecasts the "Magnificent Seven" to post year-over-year earnings growth of nearly 40%.

The "bar is neither high nor low," Buchbinder said.

Meanwhile, "the rest of the S&P 500 — the 493 — will need to deliver some healthy upside just to match the earnings," he added.

— Hakyung Kim

Consumer discretionary stocks rose on Monday, boosting the S&P 500 sector by nearly 1% during afternoon trading.

The sector was the biggest gainer in the broad index. Tesla powered those gains, surging 5.5%, while Bath & Body Works rose more than 4%. Carnival Corporation, Aptiv and Norwegian Cruise Line added at least 3% each.

Real estate stocks also gained, lifting the sector 0.8%. Camden Property Trust led those gains, jumping 5.5%. Mid-America Apartment Communities edged up more than 4%. Boston Properties was last up 3.6%.

— Samantha Subin

Eighteen stocks in the S&P 500 index hit new 52-week highs during Monday's trading session.

Of these tickers, nine hit new all-time highs. Stocks that reached this milestone include:

• Meta Platforms trading at all-time-high levels back to its initial public offering in May 2012
• Diamondback Energy trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in October 2012
• Caterpillar trading at all-time-high levels back to when it first began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1929
• Cummins Inc. trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in 1947
• General Dynamics trading at all-time-high levels back to 1952 when it was incorporated and listed on the NYSE
• Old Dominion Freight Line trading at all-time-high levels back to its IPO in October 1991
• Trane Technologies trading at all-time-high levels back through Ingersoll Rand's history, before its recent merger with Gardner Denver
• Textron trading at all-time highs back to when it began trading on the NYSE in 1947
• Martin Marietta trading at all-time-high levels back to its IPO in 1994

— Lisa Kailai Han, Christopher Hayes

With Wall Street looking toward March's Consumer Price Index numbers scheduled for release Wednesday, Bankrate chief financial analyst Greg McBride says oil prices continue to slow the progress made in lowering inflation.

"We don't have the tailwind of falling oil and gasoline prices that we had late in 2023 when we saw notable and sustained easing of inflation pressures. So far in 2024, the progress has slowed and especially with oil prices rising to a 5-month high, expectations of the date and number of Fed rate hikes has been scaled back," McBride wrote in a Monday note.

McBride added that he is keeping an eye out for improvements in inflation for shelter prices, motor vehicle insurance, costs for services and maintenance, more so than for goods.

— Hakyung Kim

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

• GE Vernova — Shares of energy company GE Vernova, which spun off from General Electric last week, gained 5.4% following an upgrade to overweight from neutral from JPMorgan. The firm said investors should buy the dip in GE Vernova, and said shares have pulled back since the spinoff largely due to technical and flowback selling and are now trading at a discount.
• Tesla — The beaten-down electric vehicle maker gained 4% after CEO Elon Musk said late Friday that Tesla will unveil its long-awaited robotaxi design on Aug. 8.
• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing — The global chip stock rose nearly 2% on news that its Arizona subsidiary will receive up to $6.6 billion from the Biden Administration to support semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. as part of the CHIPS and Science Act.

For more, read here.

— Pia Singh

Last week's lousy action in the U.S. stock market is no guarantee that the rest of the second quarter will show similar results, according to a Monday note to clients from Deutsche Bank macro strategist Henry Allen. The S&P 500 slipped almost 1% last week, the largest weekly decline in three months. 

"[W]e know from Q1 that the first week of the quarter doesn't necessarily signal where things are headed for the rest of the quarter," Allen wrote, noting that "markets got 2024 off to a very rough start," when the S&P 500 slid 1.52% in the worst weekly loss of the year thus far.

Despite that, the benchmark index went to score a 10.2% gain during the entire first quarter. "So, even though the first week is always important for setting the tone, it isn't necessarily a signal for where things are heading next," Allen told Deutsche Bank clients.

— Scott Schnipper

Wells Fargo raised its 2024 S&P 500 target to 5,535 from 4,625, implying a 6.4% upside from here.

"We believe equities have some upside from here, but still anticipate a volatility spike in 1H24 while a 2H24 'melt-up' appears increasingly likely, partly driven by political outcomes that support greater M&A and partly by an anticipated multi-year easing cycle that supports risk-taking," the firm said in a note Monday.

Wells Fargo' new forecast is one of the highest on the Street. It is also 9% higher than the average projection of 5,064, according to the CNBC Pro Market Strategist Survey, which rounds up the targets from the top 14 Wall Street strategists.

— Yun Li

RBC Capital Markets said investors can keep liking energy — even after recent gains.

"Overall, the sector continues to look interesting to us and we remain overweight within the S&P 500," wrote Lori Calvasina, the firm's head of global strategy, in a Monday note to clients.

Heightened geopolitical risks can be a positive sign for the sector, she said. On top of that, ongoing skepticism about the path of interest rates and a broad understanding that the economy remains strong can also offer tailwinds.

The S&P 500's energy sector finished March higher by more than 10%, its best monthly performance since 2022. The sector has gained about 17% in 2024.

— Alex Harring

U.S. crude oil futures fell Monday after Israel reduced its troop presence in Gaza.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for May delivery fell 76 cents, or 0.87%, to $86.15 a barrel. The June Brent contract lost $1, or 1.14%, to $90.13 a barrel.

Israel withdrew forces from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis over the weekend, bringing its troop levels in the enclave to one of the lowest levels since the war with Hamas began last October. Negotiations on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are ongoing in Cairo.

— Spencer Kimball

Consumers did not change their views on inflation over the past month, even as markets worried that stubbornly higher prices could deter interest rate cuts, according to a survey Monday from the New York Federal Reserve.

The central bank's monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations showed the one-year inflation outlook in March was unchanged at 3% from February. The three-year outlook rose 0.2 percentage points to 2.9% but fell at the five-year horizon to 2.6%, a decline of 0.3 percentage points.

In one area, though, that may concern Fed policymakers, the median expectation for rent increases over the next year surged to 8.7%, an increase of 2.6 percentage points, or 43%.

— Jeff Cox

Although prominent global equity markets in the U.S., Europe and Japan are "stretched" at their current high levels, opportunities still exist for investors, according to Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.

"Amidst the elevated valuations, pockets of opportunity are emerging—especially within U.S. small-caps, buoyed by favorable economic conditions, and in Latin America, where compelling valuations align with strong fundamentals," Shah wrote in a Monday note.

Latin America has strong fundamentals and some of the most attractive valuations across the world, the strategist added.

Meanwhile, Indian equities remain pricier, while China's economist outlook still remains bleak, she said.

— Hakyung Kim

Shares of GE Vernova, the energy spinoff of General Electric, rallied 6% Monday morning.

The newly spun-off stock first began trading April 2.

JPMorgan upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral Monday, saying the 14% pullback in the stock since its first trading day presented an attractive entry point.

— Hakyung Kim

Wednesday's March consumer price index report could play a key role in where the market goes from here, according to Fundstrat's Tom Lee.

"Bottom line: We see probabilities favoring a rally in stocks post-March CPI report," the head of research wrote in a note to clients Sunday.

Read more on Lee's call here.

— Samantha Subin

The major averages ticked higher to start Monday's session. The Dow advanced roughly 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also had slight gains.

— Fred Imbert

Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading.

• Tesla — Shares of the electric vehicle firm gained 3%, extending an after-hours pop from Friday after CEO Elon Musk said the company will unveil its long-awaited robotaxi design on Aug. 8.

• Ulta — The cosmetic stock ticked up 1.3% on the heels of an upgrade to buy from Loop Capital, with analyst Anthony Chukumba positing that shares could be due for a rebound after their worst fall since 2020 last week.

• BJ's Wholesale — Shares of the warehouse club added 2.4% following an upgrade by Goldman Sachs to buy from neutral. The bank sees earnings upside ahead for BJ's, driven by several factors including the return of volume growth in grocery.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Although technology shares have pulled back 1% since the start of the second quarter, UBS remains relatively optimistic on the sector.

It reminded investors that the "AI-driven tech rally is not a one-way street." Geopolitical instability and dampening expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut rates this year have contributed to tech stocks, particularly semiconductor names, to decline in recent weeks.

Nonetheless, this comes after "a roughly 70% rally for the MSCI U.S. Information Technology Index since the end of 2022, led primarily by enthusiasm for and application of artificial intelligence," the firm wrote in a Monday note.

"With the first quarter reporting season fast approaching, this recent underperformance does not alter our positive view around AI-related stocks," UBS said.

— Hakyung Kim

In his annual letter to shareholders released Monday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said artificial intelligence may be as transformational as the printing press, electricity and the internet.

While he touched on a variety of topics, AI was the first in his outline of the issues facing big banks, ahead of geopolitics and regulatory matters.

JPMorgan has more than 2,000 AI and machine learning employees, but it could ultimately touch all of the bank's employees, Dimon said.

"Over time, we anticipate that our use of AI has the potential to augment virtually every job, as well as impact our workforce composition," he said. "It may reduce certain job categories or roles, but it may create others as well."

— Hugh Son, Michelle Fox

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday that measures such as tariffs on China's green energy exports are not out of the question.

"I wouldn't rule anything out at this point. We need to keep everything on the table. We want to work with the Chinese to see if we can find a solution," she said in an interview with CNBC's Sara Eisen, when asked about the possibility of Washington imposing tariffs if China does not adjust its approach to industry incentives.

"I'm not thinking so much of export restrictions, as some shifts in their macroeconomic policy, and a reduction in the amount of, particularly local government subsidies, to firms," Yellen said.

Yellen also noted the U.S. planned to "underscore" a needed shift in policy at future discussions.

— Fred Imbert

European markets had a cautious start to the week, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 index 0.06% lower at 8:05 a.m. in London.

France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 were both near the flatline, while Germany's DAX nudged 0.2% higher.

— Jenni Reid

India's Sensex and Nifty 50 indexes hit fresh all-time highs Monday, powered by metal stocks such as Tata Steel and JSW Steel.

The Sensex hit 74,614.71, gaining 0.5% and extending its records from last Friday.

The Nifty rose 0.45% to 22,612.5, also surpassing its previous high hit on April 4.

Tata Steel, the largest component of the Sensex, gained 1.47% and was the second-largest gainer on the index, while JSW Steel rose 1.28%.

— Lim Hui Jie

The People's Bank of China has announced a "re-loan" program of 500 billion yuan, or $70 billion, for technological innovation and transformation to support small and medium-size tech enterprises.

A re-loan program uses funds lent by the PBOC to commercial banks, which then lend them to customers.

In a statement on Sunday, the PBOC said the program will offer loans via 21 banks at a rate of 1.75%, and the loans can be extended twice for up to a year each time.

— Lim Hui Jie

Chinese real estate development firm Shimao has become the latest property company to face a liquidation lawsuit after it received a winding up petition from China Construction Bank (Asia).

This follows lawsuits faced by counterparts Evergrande, which was ordered to wind up, and Country Garden Holdings, which also faces a liquidation petition.

In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the company said the petition was in connection with debt of about 1.58 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Shimao said the petition does not represent the collective interests of its offshore creditors and other stakeholders, adding it will "oppose the petition vigorously."

Last month, Shimao released a restructuring plan for its offshore debt, saying the plan represents "a reasonable and realistic solution" for its credit holders.

— Lim Hui Jie

Bank of America economists believe Wednesday's inflation report should show a moderation in price pressures, providing confidence to the Fed for a rate cut in June.

The Wall Street firm expects the core consumer price index to moderate to 0.2% in March after rising 0.4% in February and January. It sees declines in car prices that should lead to a drop in core goods. Meanwhile, the bank expects a bigger-than-usual rise in energy prices, however.

"The moderation in core CPI should reflect a drop in core goods prices and a more modest price increase in core services," the bank's economists said in a note. "A report in line with our expectations would provide confidence to the Fed and keep a June cut firmly in play."

— Yun Li

Shares of Tesla jumped 3.8% in after-hours trading Friday after CEO Elon Musk said his electric vehicle company is set to unveil the robotaxi later this year.

Musk said in a Friday night post on social media platform X that the unveil will take place Aug. 8.

Musk has spoken about the robotaxi project for years. Tesla has yet to deliver a robotaxi, autonomous vehicle or technology that can turn its cars into "level 3" automated vehicles.

— Yun Li