Stock market today: Live updates

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

• Google — Alphabet Class A shares rose 5.6% after Bloomberg reported that Apple is in talks with Google to license its Gemini artificial intelligence engine and build it into future iPhones.
• Super Micro Computer – Shares rose 2.5%. The technology company, which makes servers that help artificial intelligence applications, joined the S&P 500 before trading began on Monday. The stock has risen more than 20-fold in the past two years and is up 276% so far this year.
• Nvidia — Shares rose 2.7% ahead of the highly anticipated GTC conference, where the chipmaker is expected to announce various artificial intelligence updates. Earlier on Monday, HSBC raised its price target to $1,050 per share from $880, saying it was encouraged by Nvidia’s roadmap for artificial intelligence products that could one day own “the entire value chain.”

For a complete list, read here.

— Pia Singh

Matt Orton, chief market strategist at Raymond James Investment Management, said investors should ignore concerns about high valuations and focus on the growth of the “stock picking market” now.

Orton said the recent diverging fortunes of the so-called “Magnificent 7” giant tech stocks, which have provided much of Wall Street’s upward momentum over the past 18 months, are proof that “we’re back in the stock-picking market,” Among them, “fundamentals” are important again. “

The high valuations of U.S. stocks have caused a lot of concern. Nvidia trades at about 35 times forward earnings, while the broader Magnificent 7’s average forward price-to-earnings ratio is about 34 times, according to FactSet data. At the same time, the S&P 500’s forward price-to-earnings ratio averaged 21 times, a record high.

Tate Orton believes that historical comparisons are irrelevant in “faster-growing” markets and that paying higher multiples is “completely fair” in this changing environment.

“It’s all about earnings growth, it’s all about understanding what’s going on with those fundamentals and trying to avoid those parts of the market where earnings are not moving positively,” Orton said.

“If you do that, no matter what the valuation is, you can grow, and I think that’s the main message for investors, which is ‘Look for growth.'”

Read the full story here.

— Elliot Smith

Alphabet shares rose 4% in pre-market trading after Bloomberg reported that Apple is in talks with the search giant to license its Gemini AI model to support iPhone functions.

The report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that the two companies have been in “active negotiations” about Gemini running some features planned to be launched with the new iPhone software later this year. Bloomberg also reported that Apple has held talks with OpenAI.

Apple shares were last up about 0.3%.

Goldman Sachs said monthly inflows into domestic equity funds in India rose to $3.2 billion in February, a 23-month high, according to the Mutual Fund Association of India.

GS said inflows into equity funds through systematic investment plans, or SIPs, remained strong, hitting a new high of $2.3 billion.

According to Goldman Sachs, foreign capital inflows into India also reached $2.2 billion in the week ended March 15.

The country’s Nifty 50 index fell 0.3% on Monday after falling more than 2% last week.

—Shreyash Sanyal

China’s retail and fixed asset investment data for the first two months of 2024 were stronger than expected.

Retail sales grew 5.5% and industrial production grew 7%, both exceeding analysts’ expectations. The urban unemployment rate was 5.3% in February.

In January and February, real estate investment fell by 9% annually, while manufacturing investment increased by 9.4%.

China’s January and February data are typically combined to smooth out variations from the Lunar New Year, China’s largest national holiday during which businesses close for at least a week.

— Evelyn Cheng

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose more than 2% on Monday, surpassing the 39,000-point mark for the first time in ten days, with manufacturing and healthcare stocks driving the gains.

However, the biggest gainer on the index was financial technology company Rakuten Group, which surged 7.38%.

Other top gainers included automaker Nissan, which rose more than 6.5%, and pharmaceutical company Chugai Pharmaceutical, which rose 4%.

The yen fell 0.18% to 149.29 against the dollar as the index rose.

Ernst & Young chief economist Gregory Dako said the Fed chairman may provide less clear information at the central bank’s policy meeting starting on Tuesday.

“We believe Fed Chairman Powell will be less transparent about potential rate cuts in May and June than in January,” Darko said in a note on Friday. “However, we do expect him to emphasize that the Fed Policymakers have begun discussing the timing and logistics of policy easing and the quantitative tightening process of reducing their balance sheets.”

— Brian Evans

Stock futures were little changed on Sunday as Wall Street awaited insights on rate cuts ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 20 points, or 0.05%, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1%.Futures tied to the S&P 500 hover near flatline

— Brian Evans