Market Snapshot
| Dow | 47474.25 | +185.13 | (0.39%) | | Nasdaq | 23413.71 | +137.75 | (0.59%) | | SP 500 | 6829.36 | +16.74 | (0.25%) | | 10-yr Note |
|
|
|
| | NYSE | Adv 1243 | Dec 1508 | Vol 1.16 bln | | Nasdaq | Adv 2250 | Dec 2422 | Vol 7.62 bln |
Industry Watch
| Strong: Information Technology, Industrials, Communication Services |
| | Weak: Energy, Consumer Staples, Materials, Health Care, Utilities, Real Estate, Financials |
Moving the Market
--Solid leadership in tech and mega-cap names sent the major averages higher despite intraday volatility
--Rebound Bitcoin after yesterday's slide
|
Major averages advance on tech leadership despite choppy action
02-Dec-25 16:25 ET
Dow +185.13 at 47474.25, Nasdaq +137.75 at 23413.71, S&P +16.74 at 6829.36
[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.3%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%), and DJIA (+0.4%) captured modest gains as tech and mega-cap names traded higher, though action was choppy throughout the session and stocks finished well off of their morning highs.
The top-weighted information technology sector (+0.8%) provided solid leadership from the open, supported by strength across its mega-cap components. NVIDIA (NVDA 181.29, +1.37, +0.76%) saw its second consecutive day of strength, while Apple (AAPL 286.19, +3.09, +1.09%) and Microsoft (MSFT 490.00, +3.26, +0.67%) also captured nice gains.
Meanwhile, Intel (INTC 43.47, +3.46, +8.65%) finished with the widest gain in the sector, contributing to a 1.8% advance in the PHLX Semiconductor Index.
Gains in mega-cap and tech stocks were crucial to today's index-level advance. A late-morning slide in equities saw the technology sector's gain eroded to just 0.3%, which briefly sent the S&P 500 below its flatline before recovering nicely.
Mega-cap strength also underpinned the gains in the communication services (+0.4%) sector and dictated the standing of the consumer discretionary sector (flat). Both sectors oscillated around their flatlines following swings in their mega-cap components. Meta Platforms (META 647.10, +6.23, +0.97%) was a standout, while Amazon (AMZN 234.42, +0.54, +0.23%) was particularly volatile, trading over 2.0% higher before finishing with just a modest gain.
All told, the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (+0.5%) notched a solid gain, though the gap between the market-weighted S&P 500 (+0.3%) and the S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index (+0.1%) wound up being much slimmer than it was when the major averages were at session highs.
Meanwhile, the industrials sector (+0.9%) was more resilient to volatility today and ended up with the widest gain of the three S&P 500 sectors that finished in positive territory. Boeing (BA 205.41, +18.95, +10.16%) was the best-performing S&P 500 name today, capturing a double-digit gain after positive commentary from its investor presentation at a UBS conference this morning. The company expects increased deliveries for both its 737 and 787 models and expects low single-digit growth in free cash flow in FY26.
The financials sector (-0.1%) traded higher for much of the session but slipped below its flatline just before the close. Robinhood Markets (HOOD 125.95, +2.71, +2.20%) and Coinbase Global (COIN 263.26, +3.42, +1.32%) both traded higher as Bitcoin recovered from yesterday's sell-off, reaching a peak above $92,000 this afternoon.
Losses in the five other retreating S&P 500 sectors were relatively modest, with the exception of the energy sector (-1.1%), which faced pressure amid a falling price of oil that saw crude oil futures settle today's session $0.71 lower (-1.2%) at $58.67 per barrel.
While not components of the S&P 500, MongoDB (MDB 401.99, +73.12, +22.23%) and Credo Technology Group (CRDO 188.44, +17.31, +10.12%) traded sharply higher after solid beat-and-raise earnings reports, which added to the positive sentiment across the technology sector and bodes well for other tech names set to report earnings this week.
Though stocks finished well off of their session highs from this morning, the major averages were able to notch a modestly higher finish after stocks retreated to start the month yesterday. The information technology sector was back in the driver's seat today, and its ability to maintain a gain through to the close despite some intraday volatility was a positive sign given recent uneasiness in the sector amid valuation and AI expenditure concerns.
U.S. Treasuries finished Tuesday with modest gains across the curve, halting their two-day slide from one-month highs. The 2-year note yield settled down two basis points to 3.52%, and the 10-year note yield settled down one basis point to 4.09%.
The market did not receive any domestic data, but tomorrow will feature a full slate of data, including the November ADP Employment Change (Briefing.com consensus 20,000; prior 42,000) at 8:15 ET and November ISM Services (Briefing.com consensus 52.4%; prior 52.4%) at 10:00 ET.
- Nasdaq Composite: +21.3% YTD
- S&P 500: + 16.1% YTD
- DJIA: +11.6% YTD
- Russell 2000: +10.5% YTD
- S&P Mid Cap 400: +5.1% YTD
Tech names look to continue strength with earnings after the close
02-Dec-25 15:25 ET
Dow +261.37 at 47550.49, Nasdaq +174.25 at 23450.21, S&P +26.12 at 6838.74
[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages set their sights on a higher finish, holding solid gains near the close after some intraday choppiness.
Meanwhile, CrowdStrike (CRWD 515.51, +11.38, +2.26%) and Marvell (MRVL 92.98, +1.88, +2.06%) look to keep the positive sentiment across tech names flowing with their earnings reports after the close.
Marvell in particular has trended higher in anticipation of its earnings release, gaining 11.1% in the past week. The stock gapped lower following its Q2 report in August on in-line EPS and guidance but has recovered amid renewed optimism about AI demand.
Major averages hold solid gains near session's end
02-Dec-25 15:00 ET
Dow +231.57 at 47520.69, Nasdaq +183.71 at 23459.67, S&P +25.92 at 6838.54
[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.4%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%), and DJIA (+0.5%) hold solid gains as the market enters the final hour of the session.
Stocks have seen some choppiness today, though it has been a relatively quiet session from a headlines perspective.
The top-weighted information technology sector (+1.0%) continues to provide solid leadership, while the energy sector (-1.4%) holds the widest loss as crude oil futures settled today's session $0.71 lower (-1.2%) at $58.67 per barrel.
Today's action has come on nearly even breadth figures, with decliners outpacing advancers by a slim 14-to-13 margin on the NYSE, while advancers hold a slim 11-to-10 advantage on the Nasdaq.
Tech Strength Lifts NXPI, APP, BKNG as S&P 500 Trails; PKG Drops to Bottom of Index
02-Dec-25 14:30 ET
Dow +139.10 at 47428.22, Nasdaq +131.39 at 23407.35, S&P +10.96 at 6823.58
[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.16%) is in last place on Tuesday afternoon, up about 11 points.
Briefly, S&P 500 constituents NXP Semi (NXPI 213.49, +14.00, +7.02%), AppLovin (APP 656.20, +32.61, +5.23%), and Booking Holdings (BKNG 5,165.95, +274.14, +5.60%) dot the top of the standings. NXPI rises on general strength in tech/semis, while APP and BKNG, too, enjoys broader tech-related gains.
Meanwhile, Packaging Corp (PKG 192.18, -11.06, -5.44%) slides to the bottom of the average.
Gold Slips as Rising Treasury Yields Spur Profit-Taking After Monday’s Six-Week High
02-Dec-25 14:00 ET
Dow +113.42 at 47402.54, Nasdaq +139.77 at 23415.73, S&P +13.51 at 6826.13
[BRIEFING.COM] With about two hours left on Tuesday the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (+0.60%) holds a commanding lead atop the major averages, up now north of 139 points.
Gold futures settled $54.00 lower (-1.3%) at $4,220.80/oz, as rising U.S. Treasury yields reduced the appeal of non-yielding assets and triggered profit-taking after Monday's six-week high. Lingering macro uncertainty keeps longer-term sentiment from turning outright bearish, but near-term pressure came squarely from higher yields and traders locking in gains.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index is up less than +0.1% to $99.47.
Signet Jewelers Delivers a Strong Q3, but Its Holiday Outlook Fails to Sparkle for Investors (SIG)
Signet Jewelers (SIG) is trading lower after reporting its Q3 (Oct) results this morning. The company delivered a solid quarter, comfortably beating expectations on the top and bottom line. Revenue increased 3.1% yr/yr to $1.39 bln, marking the third consecutive quarter of growth after nine quarters of declines. SIG also raised its FY26 EPS, revenue, and comp outlook to $8.43-9.59, $6.70-6.83 bln, and (0.2%) to +1.75%, respectively. However, the midpoints of EPS and revenue are below expectations, reflecting a cautious holiday tone that is overshadowing the Q3 beat.
- Comps increased +3%, accelerating from +2% in Q2 and well above prior guidance of (1.25%) to +1.25%. This marks the third straight quarter of positive comp growth, driven by Kay, Zales, and Jared delivering a combined +6%.
- Strength was broad-based across bridal, fashion, and watches. Jared posted a standout +10% fashion comp, while Kay and Zales benefited from differentiated bridal assortments and strategic pricing that resonated with mid-tier consumers.
- The services business remained a bright spot, growing high single digits and now approaching five years of positive comps. Its high-margin profile continues to help offset tariff pressure and elevated gold costs.
- Margin expansion remained solid, with total gross margin up 130 bps yr/yr, including 80 bps of merchandise margin expansion. Key drivers included tighter pricing and promo discipline, targeted investments in LGDs (boosting AUR), and benefits from store refreshes and more modernized marketing.
- The raised guidance reflects SIG's Q3 beat, continued tariff mitigation, and a "measured" Q4 outlook. Management cited external disruptions since late October, softer traffic over the past five weeks, and heightened value expectations among lower to middle income consumers.
Briefing.com Analyst Insight
SIG delivered an impressive Q3, highlighted by accelerating comps, broad-based category strength, and meaningful margin expansion despite tariff and commodity headwinds. Execution across pricing discipline, LGD mix, services growth, and core-banner performance clearly continues to bear fruit. However, with an important holiday season ahead, the company's measured Q4 outlook is difficult for investors to overlook. Softer traffic since late October and more value-oriented consumer behavior inject uncertainty into near-term trends. While the underlying fundamentals are improving, the cautious holiday guide tempers enthusiasm and helps explain today's weak stock reaction despite a solid quarter.
Credo Connects the Dots: AI Data Center Boom Sparks Record-Breaking Quarter (CRDO)
Credo Technology (CRDO +13%) is surging today after posting its strongest quarter ever. Q2 (Oct) revenue jumped 272% yr/yr and 20% qtr/qtr to $268 mln, well above expectations, and Q3 (Jan) guidance of $335-345 mln far exceeded analyst estimates.
- The company is benefiting from the rapid expansion of AI clusters, now built with hundreds of thousands of GPUs and soon millions, which increases demand for high-reliability interconnect gear.
- Active Electrical Cables (AECs) remain the fastest-growing segment, with four hyperscalers each contributing 10%+ of Q2 revenue and a fifth joining early.
- AECs are becoming the standard for intra-rack links, offering 1,000× better reliability and ~50% lower power vs. optical modules.
- The IC segment (retimers, optical DSPs) is set for growth as data rates shift to 50G/100G and later 200G per lane.
- Credo also expanded its TAM with new growth pillars, led by ZeroFlap Optics, currently in trials with major U.S. hyperscalers and expected to generate initial revenue in FY27.
Briefing.com Analyst Insight:
Credo delivered an exceptional quarter, with both Q2 performance and Q3 guidance signaling accelerating momentum tied to AI infrastructure spending. While the company is not typically viewed as a front-line AI beneficiary, its interconnect offerings are becoming increasingly critical as GPU clusters scale in size and complexity. The AEC segment, in particular, is seeing strong hyperscaler adoption and displacing traditional optical modules. That said, the stock's rapid ascent reflects how tightly it is now linked to AI capex cycles, which can be volatile. Still, with expanding product lines, increasing customer breadth, and new optical technologies on the horizon, Credo stands out as an under-the-radar, high-leverage play on the growth of AI data centers.
MongoDB launches to new 52-week highs as Atlas momentum fuels impressive beat-and-raise report (MDB)
MongoDB (MDB) delivered a powerful beat-and-raise 3Q26 report, propelling the stock to new 52-week highs after crushing consensus expectations for both revenue and EPS. Non-GAAP EPS grew 14% yr/yr, driven by strong operating leverage, improving Atlas gross margins, consistent cost discipline, and robust free-cash-flow generation, which benefited from higher cash collections and more efficient working-capital dynamics. Revenue surged 19% yr/yr to $628 mln, well above guidance, as Atlas continued to outperform.
- Atlas remained the engine of growth, with revenue accelerating to 30% yr/yr from 29% last quarter and 26% in Q1, reflecting strong consumption trends, expanding workloads with large U.S. customers, and broad-based strength across EMEA.
- Management noted that Atlas is increasingly winning mission-critical workloads due to its scalability, simplified architecture, and AI-ready capabilities, including integrated search, vector search, and Voyage AI embeddings, all of which resonated with customers modernizing core data platforms or beginning to build early AI applications.
- Customer additions were strong, with 2,600 net adds in Q3 and a total base above 62,500, reflecting solid self-serve traction and continued enterprise expansion.
- Guidance moved higher across the board, with Atlas now expected to grow approximately 27% in Q4 and full-year FY26 revenue and EPS both raised, even as management maintains a prudent stance on holiday seasonality.
Briefing.com Analyst Insight:
MDB delivered one of its strongest quarters in years, showcasing that its core business is firing on all cylinders before any meaningful AI tailwind fully materializes. The combination of accelerating Atlas growth, rapid customer adoption, and durable operating leverage underscores the company’s expanding role as a foundational data platform for modern applications and emerging AI workloads. While AI-native startups and Fortune 500 enterprises are still in early experimentation phases, MDB’s unified operational, search, and vector-search architecture positions it to capture the next leg of AI-driven modernization. Investor enthusiasm is also spreading across the data infrastructure ecosystem, with Snowflake (SNOW) and Datadog (DDOG) moving higher in sympathy ahead of SNOW’s results tomorrow. MDB’s premium valuation (1-year forward P/E of 77x) assumes continued execution, but today’s beat-and-raise performance gives the bulls fresh justification.
Synopsys Strengthens Shift to AI-Centric Growth with Expanded NVIDIA Engineering Partnership (SNPS)
Synopsys (SNPS) is trading sharply higher after announcing a strategic partnership with NVIDIA (NVDA) in which the companies will advance agentic AI engineering using GPUs, accelerated computing, and digital-twin technologies. The deal embeds NVIDIA deeper into next-gen semiconductor and system-level design flows, while a separate $2 bln NVDA investment in SNPS stock underscores confidence in Synopsys' AI-enabled EDA roadmap and provides a meaningful commercial and go-to-market tailwind.
- The companies will shift many of SNPS's traditionally CPU-bound engineering workloads onto NVIDIA GPUs using CUDA-X and AI-Physics technologies, accelerating tools across chip design, physical verification, multi-die analysis, and advanced optical/electromagnetic simulation.
- SNPS's AgentEngineer will be paired with NVDA's NeMo and NIM tech to automate more of the design process, moving engineering tasks from AI "assist" toward more autonomous, end-to-end workflows.
- NVDA's Omniverse and AI-physics tools will play a larger role in building higher-fidelity digital twins, improving virtual testing and system-level modeling across industries such as semis, autos, aerospace, and industrial.
- Additionally, a coordinated go-to-market push and the non-exclusive nature of the partnership should help broaden adoption across a wider range of engineering and industrial customers.
- The partnership also strengthens SNPS's combined platform with Ansys by bringing together its timing/power tools with more advanced thermal, physics, and simulation capabilities.
Briefing.com Analyst Insight
This announcement lands at an important moment for SNPS. Shares sold off sharply in September followings its Q3 (Jul) results, which were weighed down by IP-segment weakness, delayed China deals, and foundry softness from complications with a major customer. This NVDA partnership reinforces the growth vectors SNPS highlighted recently, including reallocating resources toward higher-value AI-driven IP, moving more engineering workloads onto GPUs, and leaning further into system-level simulation and the Ansys platform as key drivers of long-term growth. While near-term headwinds remain, as management cautioned that FY25 will be a "transitional and muted" year for IP with ongoing China uncertainty and slower recovery at key customers, this collaboration strengthens the long-term investment case by validating SNPS's pivot toward higher-value, AI-centric engineering workflows and providing meaningful commercial leverage through NVDA's ecosystem.
IMAX Breaks the Frame: Family Films Deliver a Picture-Perfect $40.8 mln Weekend (IMAX)
IMAX delivered a record-shattering Thanksgiving performance, generating $40.8 mln in worldwide box office receipts during the holiday period. This marks a 70% jump yr/yr from the prior record of $24 mln, fueled by the powerhouse combo of Disney's Zootopia 2 and Universal's Wicked: For Good.
- Thanksgiving worldwide box office: $40.8 mln, a new IMAX record (+70% yr/yr). Zootopia 2 IMAX debut: $32.1 mln worldwide, including an impressive $20.5 mln from China.
- The strong performance highlights resilience in consumer demand, even amid waning consumer confidence and inflationary pressures.
- Family-oriented films are emerging as a major growth vector for IMAX, supplementing its traditional strength in superhero, sci-fi, and fantasy content.
- Results set a constructive tone heading into the December 18 global release of Avatar: Fire and Ash, the first new Avatar film since 2022's The Way of Water.
Despite the record numbers, shares of IMAX are trading slightly lower, likely because the market had already priced in strong holiday results. The stock had been climbing since early November as enthusiasm built around the Thanksgiving slate and the upcoming Avatar release.
Briefing.com Analyst Insight
IMAX's record Thanksgiving weekend is a meaningful signal that premium theatrical experiences remain in demand—even in a shaky macro environment. The ability to drive higher-priced ticket sales during a period of constrained consumer budgets underscores the strength and differentiation of the IMAX brand.
We also view the company's increased focus on family-friendly content as strategically important. This category historically provides broader audience reach and less volatility than blockbuster-driven slates. The success of Zootopia 2 in IMAX formats supports management's view that family titles represent a high-growth adjacency to the company's core genres.
While the stock's muted reaction may disappoint some investors, we see it as a reflection of already-elevated expectations rather than a negative shift in fundamentals. With the highly anticipated Avatar: Fire and Ash release approaching, these Thanksgiving results should help ease concerns about the holiday period and keep momentum intact heading into year-end.
|
