Stocks Indexes Rebound as Trump Softens Tone on China; Chip Shares Soar on Broadcom Deal With OpenAI

Yelp Stock Soars as Evercore Hikes Rating, Price Target

4 minutes ago

Yelp (YELP) shares popped 10% Monday afternoon after Evercore ISI raised its rating and price target on the crowd-sourced business reviews site.

Evercore lifted its rating on the stock to “outperform” from “in line,” and its price target to $45 from $37, on what it sees as growth opportunities ahead.

Despite today’s gains to about $33.50, Yelp shares are down about 14% this year.

Keurig Dr Pepper Stock Jumps on Report Starboard Builds Stake in Company

1 hr 6 min ago

Shares of Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) weren’t doing much Monday until a report dropped that Starboard Value had built a stake in the soft drink and coffee maker. Then they jumped.

Keurig Dr Pepper stock rose roughly 3% in afternoon trading following a Financial Times report that Starboard started building its undisclosed position after the beverage giant announced in late August it was acquiring European coffee maker JDE Peet’s for €15.7 billion ($18.2 billion).

Keurig Dr Pepper shares are down about 17% this year. They had been up roughly 10% in 2025 prior to the announcement of the JDE Peet’s acquisition.

MP Materials Stock, USA Rare Earth Climb Amid US-China Trade Spat

1 hr 27 min ago

U.S. rare-earths stocks are hot to start the week.

Shares of rare earth minerals providers MP Materials (MP) and USA Rare Earth (USAR) continued their recent climb Monday, rising after China took further steps to limit their exports to the U.S. Both companies’ shares were up more than 20% in recent trading.

Chinese regulators, citing national security, last week banned exports that derive 0.1% or more of value from rare-earth technologies without government approval. That raised concerns about demand, lifting prices. Rare earth minerals are key to many high-tech industries, including chipmaking, and China is the top global producer. 

President Donald Trump retaliated, boosting tariffs on Chinese goods to 100%. He later appeared to back down, posting on Truth Social site “Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!” and saying that China’s President Xi Jinping “just had a bad moment.”

That news has lifted U.S. stocks broadly today, reflecting a measure of relief after Friday’s news weighed on shares.

MP Materials shares had risen nearly 500% this year headed into Monday’s session, while shares of USA Rare Earth had about tripled. 

–Bill McColl

Consumer Staples Sector Is Only One in the Red Today

2 hr 6 min ago

Of the 11 sectors tracked by the S&P 500, only one is in negative territory today.

The S&P 500 Consumer Staples Sector is down about 0.5% in early afternoon trading. The only other sectors not at least 1% higher today are Real Estate and Health Care, and they are up 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.

Among the biggest decliners in the Consumer Staples sector are J.M. Smucker (SJM) and Conagra Brands (CAG), down a respective 2.7% and 2.5%.

It’s Broadcom’s Turn to Get a Stock Bump From Some OpenAI News

2 hr 39 min ago

OpenAI isn’t publicly traded. But when it acts, stocks often move.

On Monday, it was Broadcom’s (AVGO) turn. Shares of the chipmaker were recently up nearly 10%, approaching 2025 highs, following an announcement that the ChatGPT maker would team with the chipmaker to co-develop AI systems for delivery from 2026 to 2029.

Today’s climb in Broadcom shares is another example of the sustained popularity of the news-driven AI trade, which continues amid concerns about whether there’s a bubble in the sector. It also highlights the power of OpenAI, considered the world’s most valuable startup at about half a trillion dollars.

The deal is “a pivotal moment in the pursuit of artificial general intelligence,” Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said in a statement. OpenAI chief Sam Altman called it “a critical step in building the infrastructure needed to unlock AI’s potential.”

The Broadcom news follows a raft of other OpenAI announcements in recent weeks. News about a partnership with AMD (AMD) powered that chip maker’s shares higher in early October. And Nvidia’s (NVDA) stock rose last month after it announced plans to invest as much as $100 billion in OpenAI. (September reports also highlighted a multiyear Oracle (ORCL)-OpenAI deal worth hundreds of billions of dollars.)

Read the full article here.

–David Marino-Nachison

JPMorgan Launches $1.5T Plan to Support Industries Deemed Critical to U.S. Interests

3 hr 10 min ago

JPMorganChase has announced plans to pump $1.5 trillion dollars over ten years into industries seen as critical to U.S. national interests.

Under the program, called the Security and Resiliency Initiative, the bank said it will “make direct equity and venture capital investments of up to $10 billion to help select companies primarily in the United States enhance their growth, spur innovation, and accelerate strategic manufacturing,” according a press release Monday.

The plan will focus on four key areas: Supply Chain and Manufacturing; Defense and Aerospace; Energy Independence and Resilience; and Frontier and Strategic Technologies. In addition JPMorgan has divided those into 27 sub-groups “ranging from shipbuilding and nuclear energy to nanomaterials and critical defense components.”

JPMorgan said that to drive the initiative, it will hire more bankers, investment professionals, and other experts, as well as “create an external advisory council of experienced leaders from the public and private sectors to help guide the long-term strategy.”

CEO Jamie Dimon said that the country has become too reliant on other places to provide critical minerals, products, and manufacturing. “Our security is predicated on the strength and resiliency of America’s economy,” Dimon said. “We need to act now.”

–Bill McColl

Fastenal Leads S&P 500, Nasdaq Decliners Monday After Weaker-Than-Expected Profit

3 hr 57 min ago

Fastenal (FAST) shares sank 6% to pace S&P 500 and Nasdaq decliners Monday after the building products supplier narrowly missed third-quarter profit expectations.

The Winona, Minn.-based firm reported Q3 net income of $0.29 per share, a penny below the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. Net sales of $2.13 billion matched expectations.

The company noted in its earnings release that Q3 “industrial production was still sluggish.”

Even with today’s sharp declines, shares have risen nearly 20% this year, comfortably ahead of the benchmark S&P 500’s roughly 13% advance.

There’s Still Life in the AI Trade. Today’s Pop in Bloom Energy Stock Is the Latest Example.

4 hr 31 min ago

While investors try to work out whether we’re in an “AI bubble”—and how much time there might be before it pops—there are still hot trades to be had.

The latest: Shares of Bloom Energy (BE) were up more than 20% Monday morning on the news that asset manager Brookfield (BAM) would spend $5 billion deploying the fuel cell company’s technology in AI factories. A press release didn’t offer too many details, but cited global opportunities and “a site in Europe that will be announced before the end of the year.”

Today’s pop marks another step higher for Bloom, which has climbed steadily and substantially in 2025. The stock recently was at $107, up from around $22 at the end of last year, as investors have sought to buy into AI up and down the food chain.

It’s also a fresh example of how there’s still appetite for action even as questions remain about how much longer enthusiasm for AI spending can sustain strength in stocks amid a range of sources of worry. This morning alone, it was easy to find newsletters from financial media and research sources asking just how much longer the party could continue.

One recurring theme in recent days was the notion that, sure, things look hot, but that doesn’t mean impending doom—or, at least, not at any time that can be predicted with confidence.

Read the full article here.

–David Marino-Nachison

What Bank Earnings Could Tell Us About the Economy

5 hr 14 min ago

With a government shutdown forcing a data blackout, the upcoming U.S. bank earnings season will let investors gauge the economy’s health.

Big banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America begin reporting their earnings next week. At least as of Sept. 30, banks were in solid shape and poised for more improvement in the last quarter of the year, analysts say. 

Their borrowers, whether credit card holders or large corporations, showed little sign of stress. Loan activity was improving, and ebullient markets were driving fees to the Wall Street operations of larger banks. President Donald Trump’s administration is loosening bank regulations, whether on tiny one-branch banks or megabanks.

“The group’s backdrop is about as strong as we could hope,” Scott Siefers, a bank analyst at Piper Sandler, wrote in a note to clients.

However, the optimism could fade if the economy takes a turn—an increasingly difficult scenario to gauge since the shutdown means the official September jobs report and other economic data haven’t been released.

Read the full article here.

–Polo Rocha

We Asked Mars Wrigley’s ‘Chief Halloween Officer’ About This Year’s Top Candy Trends—Here’s What He Had To Say

6 hr 13 min ago

October is here, which means prime-time baseball—and Halloween, the “Super Bowl” of candy sales.

Americans are expected to shell out more than $13 billion to celebrate Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation, with nearly $4 billion of that on candy. That makes it vitally important for confectioners like Mars Wrigley, one of the biggest candy, chocolate and gum makers in the world, which spent more than two years developing its 2025 lineup.

Timothy LeBel, president of sales with Mars Wrigley North America—he also holds the title of “Chief Halloween Officer”—told Investopedia the company will offer more than 90 products this fall as it seeks to capitalize on a busy season for an industry estimated to be worth more than $50 billion.

As the company, known for products like Snickers, 3 Musketeers and Milky Way bars, develops its menu, it considers shifting trends in consumer tastes and preferences, generational differences in how people enjoy treats, and emerging influences like the effect of GLP-1 medications on purchases of candy and other snacks.

Sometimes trends that lead to pullbacks in one direction create opportunity in another. GLP-1s, for example, can suppress appetites, but some users can also experience dry mouth or unpleasant breath, experts say. “Our gum business has benefited from that,” LeBel said.

Read the full article here.

–Parija Kavilanz

Looking to Short a Few Stocks? JPMorgan Analysts Have a Few Ideas

7 hr 9 min ago

With stocks not far from their recent highs, are you looking to bet on which ones might fall? 

Some investors look to profit from share prices they consider elevated by making short bets, borrowing shares to sell that they then seek to repurchase when they’re less expensive, pocketing the difference.

Last week, JPMorgan asked its analysts to pick their favorite short ideas headed into the start of the fourth quarter. They handed back a list of 27 stocks, which included those of a major airline and a burger chain.

Read here for summaries of a few of those picks. 

–David Marino-Nachison

Stock Futures Rally as Trump Softens Tone on China

7 hr 37 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%.

S&P 500 futures advanced 0.9%.

Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 1.4%.