Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Fresh records
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and small-cap focused Russell 2000 all notched fresh records Monday. Wall Street seemed broadly positive on President-elect Donald Trump’s selection for Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, the founder of Key Square Group. The Dow added 440 points, or nearly 1%; the S&P advanced 0.3%; and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.27%. The Russell 2000 jumped almost 1.5%. Follow live market updates.
2. Trump’s tariffs
A foreign trade container ship is leaving the dock at Qingdao Port in Qingdao, China, on June 7, 2024.
Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Trump is preparing his tariff policy. The President-elect said Monday he’d impose additional tariffs of 10% on all goods from China and 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico once he takes office. The levies would end a free trade agreement with the U.S.’s North American neighbors and would likely invite retaliation from Beijing.
3. Wintery mix
An Abercrombie & Fitch store stands in midtown Manhattan on October 24, 2024 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
It looks like it’ll be a happy holidays for some of America’s retailers. A handful of quarterly reports were out before the bell Tuesday, and the results were mixed. Abercrombie & Fitch said it expects a strong holiday period after reporting its sixth straight quarter of double-digit sales growth. Dick’s Sporting Goods raised its full-year guidance after what its CEO called an “excellent” back-to-school season. But, Best Buy fell short of Wall Street expectations, and Kohl’s lowered its full-year sales forecast. The reports come days ahead of the key Black Friday shopping event.
4. Weigh in
The Amgen logo is displayed outside Amgen headquarters on May 17, 2023 in Thousand Oaks, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Amgen’s experimental weight loss drug, MariTide, helped some patients in a mid-stage trial lose up to 20% of their body weight. The data was on the lower end of Wall Street’s projections and comes from part one of a two-part phase two trial designed to test dose sizes, schedule and regimen of the drug. It’s the first real look at whether Amgen’s treatment can rival popular weight loss options from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Amgen said it did not observe a plateau in weight loss after 52 weeks, suggesting part two of the trial could return encouraging results.
5. Buffett gives back
Warren Buffett in Omaha, Nebraska, May 3, 2019.
Johannes Eisele | Getty
The “Oracle of Omaha” is giving away another $1.1 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock on a quest to donate 99% of his fortune. The 94-year-old investor also named three independent trustees to oversee his philanthropy after his children, who are all over the age of 65. “I’ve never wished to create a dynasty or pursue any plan that extended beyond the children,” Buffett wrote in a letter Monday.
– CNBC’s Alex Harring, Hakyung Kim, Evelyn Cheng, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Melissa Repko, Jacob Pramuk, Annika Kim Constantino and Yun Li contributed to this report.
