US stocks retreated on Monday to put a record-setting rally on pause, as investors girded for a week where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony and the monthly jobs report could put equity gains to the test.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) shed about 0.2% after ending Friday with its 16th weekly win in 18 weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell roughly 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slid slightly.
Stocks have racked up gains amid a relentless AI-spurred run-up in techs, which helped the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) to finally nail a fresh all-time high after a yearslong wait. That tech rally, and Nvidia’s (NVDA) breakneck rise to a $2 trillion valuation in particular, has prompted concerns about a building bubble — though some analysts are less worried.
Also on Monday, bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) continued rise saw the cryptocurrency top $65,000 to move closer to a record high, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index (^N225) breached the key 40,000 level for the first time.
A dose of reality could lie ahead for the high hopes and the hype, when the Fed’s Powell steps up to speak and the February jobs data arrive. Both will play into calculations for interest-rate cuts and shed light on whether the US economy is headed for a “soft landing” or stagflation. Powell is set to give testimony to Congress from Wednesday, while the labor data is due on Friday.
Meanwhile, in a shot across the bows for Big Tech, EU antitrust regulators fined Apple (AAPL) almost $2 billion over App Store restrictions on Spotify (SPOT) and other music streaming services. Apple shares slipped after the news.
Among big movers, Macy’s (M) shares jumped over 16% after bidders Arkhouse and Brigade raised their buyout offer to $6.6 billion, a 33% premium to the closing price on Friday. Shares in Super Micro Computer (SMCI) also popped 16% ahead of the AI server maker’s entry on the S&P 500.
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