Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Dow Jones Futures Gain Following Independence Day Weekend—Intel, SanDisk, Te

U.S. stock futures advanced on Monday, as the Dow Jones, Nasdaq 100, and S&P 500 indices rose, following Thursday’s mixed close.

The positive moves followed a long Independence Day weekend, which saw the Nasdaq Composite move down amid a decline in semiconductor stocks, even while the Dow Jones index surged to record highs during Thursday’s session.

Job growth cooled sharply in June, with payrolls rising just 57,000 — well below the 115,000 consensus and down from a revised 129,000 in May. April was also cut by 31,000, bringing combined revisions to a net minus 74,000.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.46%, and the two-year bond was at 4.11%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool’s projections show markets pricing a 75.9% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged during July’s meeting.

Stocks In Focus

SanDisk

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that SNDK maintains a strong price trend in the medium, short, and long terms, with a poor value score.

Tesla

• Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was 1.29% higher after it reported second-quarter deliveries of 480,126 vehicles, surpassing estimates.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that TSLA maintains a weak price trend in the long, short, and medium terms, with a moderate quality score.

Intel

• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) rose 3.46% after it reportedly hiked prices on its latest Arrow Lake desktop chips and select high-end data center processors, including the Xeon 8000-series

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that INTC maintains a strong price trend in the long, short, and medium terms.

CrowdStrike Holdings

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CRWD maintains a strong price trend in the medium, short, and long terms, with a poor value score.

Ford Motor

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that F maintains a weak price trend in the short term but a strong trend in the long and medium terms.

Cues From Last Session

Health care, consumer staples, and utilities stocks recorded the biggest gains on Thursday, driving most S&P 500 sectors to close on a positive note. However, information technology and communication services stocks closed lower.

Insights From Analysts

Top economist Mohamed El-Erian highlights a shifting landscape for the U.S. economy and stock market, marked by a cooling labor market and central bank reform.

Analyzing June’s jobs data, he notes that while nonfarm payrolls rose by a sluggish 57,000, solid earnings growth suggests that “the supply side is currently the dominant driver of the labor market.” This cooler data has notably helped “moderate recent rate-hike fears” among investors.

For the stock market, El-Erian observes “further equity market rotation amid somewhat higher yields.” While the overall quarter ended on a solid note for equities, underlying turbulence remains, particularly because “the AI and semiconductor trade remained volatile.”

Looking forward, he anticipates a complex policy environment under new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who is shifting the central bank “away from explicit forward guidance.”

El-Erian expects upcoming FOMC minutes to reveal a “tricky balance within the FOMC between those worried about sticky inflation and those more focused on potential labor market vulnerability.” Ultimately, the market’s trajectory will depend on whether the broader services sector can keep pace with AI in driving economic expansion.

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on this week.

Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets

Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 0.45% to hover around $68.38 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.59% to hover around $4,151.04 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.23% higher at the 101.0930 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 0.05% lower at $62,839.47 per coin over the last 24 hours.

Asian markets closed mixed on Monday, as Australia’s ASX 200, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and China’s CSI 300 indices fell, while India’s Nifty 50 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng indices rose. European markets were mostly higher in early trade.

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