Stocks Move Higher as Investors Brush Aside Trump’s Latest Tariff Threats; Bitcoin Hits Another Record High

Autodesk Jumps on Report Company Backs Off PTC Bid

9 minutes ago

Autodesk (ADSK) shares surged Monday following a report the company is no longer looking to purchase rival design software maker PTC (PTC).

The stock was up close to 6% in recent trading, while PTC shares fell 2%.

Bloomberg reported that it was likely Autodesk backed down because of the price, financial constraints, and opposition from activist investor Starboard Value, which it noted took a stake in the company earlier this year and pushed for changes.

Autodesk wrote in a regulatory filing that it would remain focused on its strategy, including “targeted and tuck-in acquisitions.” It did not directly mention PTC.

Last Thursday, Autodesk shares slumped and PTC shares jumped on a report Autodesk was talking with advisers to evaluate a possible cash-and-stock purchase of PTC.

Autodesk shares were the top gainers in the S&P 500 this afternoon.

–Bill McColl

Crypto Asset Manager Grayscale Files for IPO

1 hr 13 min ago

Grayscale, a cryptocurrency asset manager, said Monday it filed confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public in the U.S.

The company operates a number of crypto exchange traded funds, including a spot Bitcoin ETF that provides investors exposure to bitcoin’s price movement without owning any of the coin itself. Grayscale offers more than 35 investment products and manages over $33 billion in assets, according to its website. 

Grayscale’s filing comes after the hugely successful listing last month from stablecoin issuer Circle internet Group (CRCL), shares of which have soared more than sixfold from their $31 initial public offering price. Gemini, a crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Bullish, an exchange backed by Peter Thiel, have also recently filed to go public.

–Andrew Kessel

Why Bitcoin Keeps Hitting Record Highs

1 hr 53 min ago

Bitcoin (BTCUSD) smashed another record, rising above $123,000 Monday before giving up some of those gains.

What’s powering the world’s largest cryptocurrency to new highs? Institutional buying from bitcoin treasury companies like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as well as optimism around “Crypto Week.”

After taking a week off from its usual Monday purchase announcements, Strategy (MSTR) revealed that it bought 4,225 more bitcoin over the week ending July 13 for $472.5 million. This takes it total bitcoin holdings to 601,550. These most recent purchases were made with funds raised through the company’s at-the-market offering programs.

Spot bitcoin ETFs were also extremely active late last week as investors poured money into them. These products hold bitcoin as the underlying asset, and need to purchase more of it as more investors buy the ETF, in turn pushing bitcoin prices higher. Spot bitcoin ETFs saw $1 billion worth of net inflows on Thursday and Friday, according to data from Farside Investors. Total inflows for last week stood at roughly $2.7 billion, with Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) garbbing most of that money.

Another likely driver for rising bitcoin prices is the optimism around regulatory clarity that could result from what lawmakers dubbed as “Crypto Week.” The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on three crypto-related bills— the CLARITY Act, Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act, and GENIUS Act. The CLARITY Act is intended to provide clearer guidelines for the regulatory classification of various digital assets, while the GENIUS Act provides a regulatory framework specifically for stablecoins.

“The big impact of ‘Crypto Week’ legislation will be reduced risk and downside volatility in the crypto market,” Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan posted on X. “FTX, Luna, Celsius, and other scandals happened in large part because we refused to provide reasonable regulations. IMO 70%+ drawdowns are a thing of the past.”

–Kyle Torpey

Boeing Inches Higher After Air India Crash Report

3 hr 9 min ago

Boeing (BA) shares are slightly higher to start the week after a preliminary report was released over the weekend regarding the cause of last month’s Air India crash that killed more than 250 people on board and on the ground.

The good news for Boeing and GE Aerospace (GE), which made the engines on the Boeing 787 that crashed, is that the preliminary report from an Indian safety regulatory did not recommend actions to fix any safety issues for operators or manufacturers of the Boeing plane and GE engines.

The report found that the likely cause of the crash was the two fuel cutoff switches being moved from the “run” position to the “cutoff” position, halting the flow of fuel to the aircraft’s engines. It remains unclear how or why the switches were moved, as one pilot was heard asking the other why the switches were turned off, to which the other pilot responded that he did not move the switches, the report said.

Both switches were moved back to the correct position, putting fuel back into the engines, but the report said the change was made too late for the plane to regain altitude before it made contact with trees and buildings on the ground.

The time from when the plane reached its highest speed and the switches were flipped to when the cockpit recording stopped at the time of the crash was about 30 seconds, per the report.

Also over the weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing told airlines that there were no safety issues with the way the fuel switch locks are currently designed, according to Reuters and the BBC. In December 2018, the FAA recommended but did not mandate that airlines inspect the switches to ensure that they could not be moved accidentally.

Boeing and GE Aerospace shares were up 0.5% and 1.5%, respectively, in recent trading.

–Aaron McDade

Netflix Levels to Watch as Earnings Set for Thursday

4 hr 3 min ago

Netflix (NFLX) shares are in focus this week as the streaming giant gets set to post its quarterly results after markets close on Thursday.

Given the company no longer reports its subscriber numbers, investors will be monitoring if recent subscription price increases and expanding advertising sales have continued to boost revenue growth. Investors will also keep a close eye on the streamer’s full-year outlook, watching for signs that consumers could be pulling back on nonessential spending amid economic uncertainty.

Coming into this week, Netflix shares had risen 40% since the start of the year and nearly doubled over the past 12 months, boosted in part by the company growing its advertising revenue and expanding its footprint into live event content. The stock was up about 1% at $1,260 in early trading Monday.

After running into selling pressure near the top trendline of an ascending channel, Netflix shares have continued to move lower, breaking down below the pattern’s lower trendline late last week.

While trading volume remains average, the stock’s recent move has coincided with the relative strength index slipping below its neutral threshold, signaling weakening price momentum.

Investors should watch key lower levels on the Netflix chart around $1,200, $1,110 and $1,065, while also monitoring an important overhead area near $1,340.

Read the full technical analysis piece here.

–Timothy Smith

Fastenal Shares Rise on Strong Results

5 hr 20 min ago

Industrial supplier Fastenal (FAST) posted a solid earnings report early Monday, opening a busy week of earnings set to be dominated by big banks and tech giants like Netflix (NFLX),

Fastenal, maker of a variety of fasteners and tools, reported second-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, along with earnings per share of $0.29, narrowly topping estimates of $2.07 billion and $0.28 per share respectively, per Visible Alpha. Sales and profits rose from the same time a year ago.

Fastenal credited its increasing sales to “improved customer contract signings over the last six quarters,” as it added that “market conditions remained sluggish providing minimal contribution.”

Shares of Fastenal, which recently underwent a two-for-one stock split and set a record high last week, were up 4% in recent premarket trading. They entered the day up 20% since the start of this year.

–Aaron McDade

Major Index Futures Slightly Lower

5 hr 58 min ago

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

S&P 500 futures slipped 0.3%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were also off 0.3%.