Investing.com -- The Nasdaq closed at a record high Monday, as tech continued to shine ahead of the last Federal Reserve policy meeting of the year.
At 4:00 p.m. ET (21:00 GMT), the NASDAQ Composite climbed 1.1% to a record close of 20,173.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% and the S&P 500 rose 0.4%.
Broadcom's surge lift chips; Tesla hits fresh record high; Ford falls on downgrade
Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) rose more than 10%, lifting the broader semiconductor sector as Wall Street continues to make bullish calls on the stock following the chipmaker's stronger quarterly results released last week.
Broadcom market has increased more than $300B since reporting earnings Thursday night, Vital Knowledge said in a Monday note.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), meanwhile, close at fresh record high as the EV maker continues its post-election rally that has pushed its market cap to around $1.45T. Wedbush lifted its price target on the company to $515 from $400, forecasting that it could could hit $650 by the end of next year.
MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) stock gave up gains to close flat even as it was announced as a new addition to the Nasdaq 100 index.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), meanwhile, fell 4% after Jefferies downgraded shares to underperform from hold, citing concerns over excess inventory.
Capri Holdings (NYSE:CPRI) shares rose 4% after Women’s Wear Daily reported that the company is exploring potential buyers for its Versace and Jimmy Choo brands, working with Barclays (LON:BARC) to facilitate the process.
While discussions are in the early stages, it remains unclear whether the two brands will be sold together, separately, or at all.
Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON), meanwhile, rose more than 3% after announcing that it was mulling the possibility of spinning off its aerospace division. The move comes amid activist investor pressure.
Fed rate cut on tap, 2025 outlook in focus
The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points at the conclusion of a two-day meeting on Wednesday, after the central bank kicked off an easing cycle earlier in the year.
The move will bring rates down by a total of 100 bps in 2024.
But focus this week will be squarely on the central bank’s plans for future easing, especially in the face of potentially sticky inflation and resilience in the labor market.
Analysts broadly expected the central bank to signal a slower pace of rate cuts in the coming year, with recent comments from Fed officials also suggesting as much.
Traders were seen pricing in a 79.7% chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged when it meets in January, CME Fedwatch showed.
Preliminary S&P Global PMI activity data will also be studied for clues of the strength of the economy.
(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)