Major Indexes Rise as Nvidia Leads Big Gains for Chip Stocks; Nasdaq Back in Positive Territory for 2025

Biggest S&P 500 Movers on Tuesday

June 03, 2025 06:50 PM EDT

Advancers

Dollar General (DG) shares surged 16%, chalking up the S&P 500’s top daily performance after the discount retailer topped quarterly sales and profit estimates and boosted its full-year outlook. The company anticipated that it should be able to mitigate most tariff-related cost pressure but expressed uncertainty around the possible impact on consumer spending trends.
Analysts have said that dollar stores could be poised to benefit as consumers trade down in the current environment. Shares of Dollar Tree (DLTR), set to report its own results Wednesday morning, were up 6%.
Shares of ON Semiconductor (ON) jumped 11% after the company’s top executive discussed expectations for a recovery in demand. In a presentation at the Bank of America Technology Conference, Onsemi CEO Hassane El-Khoury pointed to signs of recovery in the company’s industrials market, its second largest, as well as indications that the automotive market could see a bottom in the second quarter.
First Solar (FSLR) stock bounced 6.5% higher on Tuesday, reversing losses posted in the prior session. Shares of companies in the renewable energy space have come under pressure since the House passed a reconciliation bill that calls for the elimination of numerous clean energy initiatives and the Department of Energy cancelled an array of related grants. Mizuho analysts boosted their price target on the stock.

Decliners

Crude oil futures prices extended their recent string of gains, bolstered by increasing geopolitical tensions, including an escalation of the war in Ukraine and an uncertain outlook for a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal. The price uptick helped lift oil and gas stocks, with shares of exploration and production firm APA Corp. (APA) gaining 5.4%.
Shares of Kenvue (KVUE), the consumer health company that spun off from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) in 2023, dropped 6.2%, the furthest of any S&P 500 stock. Kenvue CEO Thibaut Mongon suggested that a lagging transition from spring into winter had contributed to soft seasonal demand for allergy and sun protection products.
FactSet Research Systems (FDS) shares sank 4.8% after the financial data and software provider announced that Sanoke Viswanathan, formerly an executive at JPMorgan Chase (JPM), would take the reins as CEO starting in September. Current CEO Phil Snow is set to retire and exit his position on FactSet’s board of directors at that time.

-Michael Bromberg

Onsemi Pops as CEO See Signs of Recovering Demand

June 03, 2025 06:50 PM EDT

ON Semiconductor (ON) shares surged Tuesday as the firm’s CEO said he feels “good about the second half,” anticipating improving demand in several key markets. 

The stock added 11% to close at just over $47. The gains came amid a broader rally for chip stocks. Despite Tuesday’s surge, shares of Onsemi have lost roughly one-quarter of their value since the start of the year.

CEO Hassan El-Khoury told attendees at a tech conference Tuesday that the company has seen signs of recovery in the industrial market, its second-largest, and expects auto demand to bottom in the second quarter before rebounding, with growth boosted by the company’s success in supplying chips for electric vehicle manufacturers in China.

The company will “benefit from a broad-based recovery based on the signs that we see even for the second half of this year,” El-Khoury said. 

Onsemi last month reported first-quarter revenue that fell 22% year-over-year to $1.45 billion and warned about a “challenging macroeconomic environment,” sending shares tumbling. Today’s climb has the stock back at levels last seen in March.

-Kara Greenberg

These Analysts See the S&P 500 Closing 2025 at Record High

June 03, 2025 06:35 PM EDT

Some Wall Street forecasters see stocks closing out 2025 at record highs—despite a shaky start to the year.

Deutsche Bank analysts led by Chief US Equity & Global Strategist Binky Chadha on Tuesday raised their year-end S&P 500 target to 6,550, a number suggesting about 10% upside from Tuesday’s close. That would be nearly 7% above the index’s record close from earlier this year.

Investor positioning, they said, is close to neutral and assumes tariffs will be a slight drag on earnings growth this year. “However, if there is confidence that tariff impacts will be modest and temporary, we expect discretionary investors to look through any slowing in growth and turn overweight in anticipation of a rebound,” they wrote. 

The analysts expect robust corporate demand to shrink the supply of stock on public markets. They forecast companies will spend $1.1 trillion on stock buybacks this year, thanks to resilient earnings. 

Deutsche Bank raised its estimate of the S&P 500’s aggregate full-year earnings per share to $267 from $240. The firm entered the year forecasting index-level earnings of $282 per share. But it slashed that outlook in mid-April shortly after President Trump paused “Liberation Day” tariffs for 90 days and lifted rates on Chinese goods to 145% at a minimum. Earnings, they estimated, would suffer from a prohibitively high effective tariff rate and the lingering possibility of a prolonged trade war. 

The outlook improved last month when the U.S. and China agreed to slash their respective tariff rates while officials negotiated a more comprehensive trade deal. Tensions between the world’s two largest economies linger: This weekend each party accusing the other of violating their tentative agreement. 

Still, the White House’s approach to tariff negotiations has some market watchers feeling optimistic. Deutsche Bank’s analysts take the White House’s decision to pause “Liberation Day” tariffs just hours after they took effect, “before the emergence of any legal barriers or economic or political pain,” as a sign that “if negative impacts of tariffs do materialize, we will get further relents.”

-Colin Laidley

FactSet Drops on News of CEO Retirement Plan

June 03, 2025 06:15 PM EDT

Shares of FactSet Research Systems (FDS) fell Tuesday after the financial data provider announced CEO Phil Snow will be retiring in a few months.

Snow will step down after 30 years at FactSet—including a decade as CEO—in early September, when he will be replaced by JPMorgan Chase (JPM) executive Sanoke Viswanathan, the company said. Snow, who will remain an advisor through the end of the year, could give more details about the transition when the company reports fiscal third-quarter results on June 23.

“Under (Snow’s) leadership over the last decade, FactSet has more than doubled its revenue and delivered annualized double-digit EPS growth and total shareholder return,” board chair Robin Abrams said. “Phil has successfully positioned FactSet for its next era, and we wish him well in his retirement.”

With today’s 5% decline, FactSet shares have lost nearly 10% of their value since the start of the year.

Tuesday’s announcement could also affect succession planning at the world’s largest bank by market cap, as Viswanathan is leaving his role as CEO of International Consumer and Wealth at JPMorgan and as a member of its Operating Committee to take the top job at FactSet.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Viswanathan had been seen as one of several potential successors within the bank to CEO Jamie Dimon, and that JPMorgan’s consumer and community banking unit head, Marianne Lake, is being given more responsibilities following Viswanathan’s departure.

-Aaron McDade

Netflix Gets a Bullish Price Target from Jefferies

June 03, 2025 05:25 PM EDT

Jefferies reiterated its “buy” rating of Netflix (NFLX) stock Tuesday, saying a solid release lineup, additional price increases and ad revenue are likely to bolster shares. 

Analysts raised their price target to $1,400, which is well above the average analyst price target of $1,192 compiled by Visible Alpha. Netflix shares closed slightly lower at just under $1,218 Tuesday, after hitting a new record high of around $1,230 during the session.

“We continue to see a favorable catalyst path for NFLX over the short, medium, and long-term,” Jefferies said, adding: “Over the next 5 yrs, we believe NFLX should sustain 20%+ EPS.”

Netflix will likely be able to retain customers in 2025 while cracking down on password sharing and collecting recently raised subscription fees, thanks to “one of the best” release lineups in recent memory, Jefferies said. Anticipated releases include new episodes of Squid Game, Stranger Things and Wednesday, the research note said.

Ad revenue is poised to grow in the coming year, and potentially create a “$10B opportunity through 2030,” Jefferies said.

Netflix may also benefit from expanding live sports and entertainment offerings and future subscription fee increases, the note said.

-Sarina Trangle

Steel Tariffs Set to Double Starting on Wednesday

June 03, 2025 04:55 PM EDT

President Donald Trump’s new, higher tariffs on metal could help the steel and aluminum industry, at a cost to the greater economy.

Starting Wednesday, importers of steel and aluminum will have to pay a 50% tax on the metals, up from 25% previously. Trump announced the new trade policy last week, ramping up his previous metal tariffs that went into effect in March. If previous tariffs are any guide, the increased levies could boost the U.S. steel and aluminum business but hurt consumers and businesses that make things out of metal.

Economists have a convenient test case to study: In 2018, Trump raised steel tariffs to 25% and aluminum tariffs to 10%, later granting exemptions to Canada and Mexico. According to one analysis by researchers at Columbia, those tariffs boosted U.S. steel and aluminum producers, resulting in the addition of 1,000 jobs.

But on the flip side, surging metal prices hurt all kinds of other manufacturers as raw materials for engines, soda cans, and myriad other products got more expensive. On top of that, other countries retaliated with tariffs of their own, hurting U.S. exporters. By 2019, the entire U.S. manufacturing sector was down 75,000 jobs from where it would have been without the tariffs, the researchers calculated.

The new tariffs are likely to have a similar effect, Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a trade expert and professor of international finance at Georgetown University, wrote in a commentary for the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

“With the 50% tariff, not only is American steel going to be less internationally competitive, but so are the multitude of American industries that depend on steel as a necessary input,” he wrote.

In addition to the economic effects, the sudden tariff increase throws yet another variable into Trump’s unpredictable trade wars. It also raises the possibility that other existing tariffs—such as his 25% tax on imported cars, or the 25% tariff on pharmaceutical products he said is coming—could also be increased.

“This will lift the average U.S. tariff rate slightly to around 15%,” wrote Sal Gautieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. “But, more worrisome, it could set a precedent for possibly higher duties on motor vehicles and other sector-specific products.”

Shares of steel producers were higher on Tuesday after surging yesterday following Trump’s late-Friday announcement of the plans to double tariffs. Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) was up 4% after soaring 21% the previous session, while Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Nucor (NUE) rose slightly after each rising 10% on Monday to lead S&P 500 gainers.

-Diccon Hyatt

Kenvue Slides as CEO Points to Demand Challenges

June 03, 2025 03:50 PM EDT

Shares of Kenvue (KVUE) led S&P 500 decliners Tuesday after the consumer health giant’s chief executive indicated the firm faces seasonal demand challenges.

Speaking at Deutsche Bank’s dbAccess Global Consumer Conference, Kenvue CEO Thibaut Mongon highlighted the importance of seasonality for its allergy products, like Benadryl and Zyrtec. “We saw a longer winter, so winter pushed spring into later in Q2,” Mongon said, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense. “So we see that on allergy where we saw a later start to the season, and so far, it’s below last year.”

Mongon also noted similar seasonal troubles for its sun protection brands, like Neutrogena and Aveeno.

“In sun, we see more or less the same. Late start to the season year-to-date behind last year, but the season has not really started for recreational sun, and Memorial Day weekend was just a few days ago,” Mongon said. “It was not great, as you and I could see. But, again, we are just at the beginning of the season. So it’s too early to read the season. It will certainly impact Q2.”

Kenvue shares were down more than 6% in recent trading. With today’s sharp declines, the stock’s year-to-date gains stand at about 4%.

-Aaron Rennie

Joby Aviation Stock Soars on Deal to Explore Saudi Launch

June 03, 2025 02:44 PM EDT

Shares of Joby Aviation (JOBY) jumped on Tuesday after the electric air taxi maker announced a deal with Saudi Arabian investment conglomerate Abdul Latif Jameel.

The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to “explore opportunities to establish a distribution agreement in Saudi Arabia for Joby’s electric aircraft,” per a Tuesday press release.

The sides laid out potential targets of 200 aircraft and other services valued at about $1 billion to be delivered in the coming years. They also said they see “potential revenue opportunities across the Middle East” in the long term.

The partnerships will begin in Saudi Arabia to “work together to explore distribution and sales collaborations, the launch of local air taxi services, including the establishment of aftermarket services such as MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul), and pilot training.”

Joby continues to expect its first passengers will be carried in Dubai in 2026. Abdul Latif Jameel has also participated in previous investing rounds for Joby, the company said.

Shares of Joby were up nearly 9% in recent trading after pulling back from a rally sparked by the announcement last week of a $250 million investment from Toyota Motor (TM).

-Aaron McDade

Jefferies Adds Nvidia to ‘Franchise Picks’

June 03, 2025 01:11 PM EDT

Jefferies has added Nvidia (NVDA) to its roster of “Franchise Picks,” a group its analysts describe as “our highest-conviction, Buy-rated stocks.”

In Nvidia’s case, the reason for conviction is the chipmaker’s position as the “dominant supplier of AI accelerators” to data centers, facilities that house the advanced computers used to develop and train artificial intelligence models. 

Jefferies came away from Nvidia’s quarterly results impressed with the chipmaker’s revenue projections—which largely mirrored what analysts expected despite a larger-than-expected impact from U.S. export curbs. Nvidia said it expects to take an $8 billion hit this quarter due to lost revenue from sales of H20 chips, which the Trump administration barred from being sold in China. 

The analysts pointed to the “massive step up” in AI commitments from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as a reason for revenue optimism. Last month, Nvidia agreed to supply chips to Saudi AI startup Humain, while the U.S. and UAE reached a deal allowing the Middle Eastern nation to import American-made AI chips. 

Nvidia, grappling with Microsoft (MSFT) for the title of the most valuable company in the world by market capitalization at more than $3.4 trillion, was 3% higher in recent trading.

-Andrew Kessel

Constellation Energy Surges on Deal With Meta to Power AI

June 03, 2025 12:01 PM EDT

Constellation Energy (CEG) shares surged in early trading Tuesday after the company said it had struck a 20-year deal to sell nuclear power to Meta Platforms (META), in the latest collaboration between a tech firm and energy provider aimed at powering AI data centers.

Meta will buy the power generation of a Constellation nuclear plant in Clinton, Ill. The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Starting in June 2027, “the agreement supports the relicensing and continued operations of Constellation’s high-performing Clinton nuclear facility for another two decades after the state’s ratepayer funded zero emission credit (ZEC) program expires,” Constellation said.

“Securing clean, reliable energy is necessary to continue advancing our AI ambitions,” Urvi Parekh, head of global energy at Meta, said of the deal.

Tuesday’s deal between Constellation and Meta is giving nuclear stocks a fresh lift as the Instagram and Facebook owner joins tech rivals from Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google  to Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon’s (AMZN) Amazon Web Services in pouring millions of dollars to boost their nuclear power access for AI. This deal builds on earlier efforts by Constellation, which said last year it would be restarting Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear plant to provide electricity for Microsoft’s data centers in a 20-year supply deal.

More recently, executive orders signed by President Donald Trump last month to accelerate the approval of new reactors and strengthen fuel supply chains have also buoyed nuclear power stocks.

Shares in Constellation were up about 5% in recent trading, after jumping as much as 9% in the opening minutes of the session. Other nuclear power providers, including NuScale (SMR), Vistra (VST) and Centrus (LEU), were also posting solid gains this morning.

-Nisha Gopalan

Dollar General Jumps on Strong Results, Raised Outlook

June 03, 2025 10:31 AM EDT

Shares of Dollar General (DG) jumped in early trading Tuesday after the discount retailer posted better-than-expected first-quarter results and lifted its full-year outlook.

Dollar General reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.78 on net sales that increased 5% year-over-year to $10.44 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had projected $1.47 and $10.26 billion, respectively. Same store sales rose by 2.4%, roughly double the 1.22% bump analysts had forecast.

Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said the company is “uniquely well-positioned to serve our customer in a variety of economic environments,” noting that it gained market share growth across merchandise categories and both its core customer base as well as “trade-in customers.”

The retailer lifted its outlook from what it laid out last quarter. The company raised the floor of its full-year EPS forecast by 10 cents to a range of $5.20 to $5.80; increased its net sales growth projection to 3.7% to 4.7% from 3.4% to 4.4%; and sees same-store sales growth of 1.5% to 2.5% compared with the prior 1.2% to 2.2%.

The company said that “uncertainty exists for the remainder of the year regarding the potential impact of tariffs on the business, and particularly on consumer behavior,” and added that it “has plans in place” if tariffs on China and other countries return to their April 2 levels. Dollar General expects it will be able to mitigate most of the cost increases brought on by tariffs, but said “consumer spending could be pressured by tariff-related price increases.”

Dollar General shares were up 14% in early trading Tuesday, leading S&P 500 advancers.

Discount store rival Dollar Tree (DLTR) is scheduled to report its own first-quarter earnings Wednesday morning. UBS analysts said in a recent note that they believe there are “more tailwinds than risks and uncertainties” for dollar stores in the current environment, citing consumers looking to trade down as a key benefit.

-Aaron McDade

Major Index Futures Down Slightly

June 03, 2025 09:46 AM EDT

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.2%.

S&P 500 futures were off 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 futures fell fractionally.