Stock market today: Nasdaq, S&P 500, Dow rise as tech recovers, while gold climbs to record high

^GSPC ^IXIC ^DJI

• Stocks emergence to statesman holiday-shortened week

  Stocks roseate to footwear disconnected the holiday-shortened week arsenic investors looked to determination past a shaky commencement to December successful hopes that a seasonal Santa Claus rally mightiness materialize.

  The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) roseate 0.6% portion the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) climbed 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) opened 0.4% higher arsenic the large indexes looked to widen their triumph streak to a 3rd day.

  Nasdaq GIDS - Free Realtime Quote • USD

  23,426.09

  +118.47

  +(0.51%)

  As of 9:50:01 AM EST. Market Open.

  ^IXIC ^GSPC ^DJI

  Gold (GC=F) and metallic (SI=F) gained 1.7% and 2.2%, respectively, adding to monthly gains.

  Crude lipid prices besides accrued aft the US intercepted a 3rd Venezuelan lipid tanker. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F), the US benchmark, gained 2.25% to commercialized astir $57 a barrel, and Brent (BZ=F), the planetary benchmark, roseate 2.2% to astir $61 per barrel.

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  Cintas launches 2nd takeover bid for UniFirst

  Workplace services elephantine Cintas Corporation (CTAS) has launched a 2nd takeover bid for rival UniFirst (UNF) with an acquisition offering astatine $275 per share.

  Shares successful Unifirst soared by much than 27% successful premarket trading pursuing quality of the $3.96 cardinal offer. Cintas slipped by astir 1.3%.

  Cintas' offer, astatine $275 per share, comes astir 11 months aft the institution ended talks with UniFirst connected an acquisition connection astatine an identical per-share price. Cintas said astatine the clip that it was incapable to prosecute successful "substantive" conversations with UniFirst's board.

  Cintas' January connection had been valued astatine astir $5.2 billion, but shares successful UniFirst person plunged by much than 20% done the twelvemonth aft Cintas pulled its archetypal acquisition offer.

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  Larry Ellison plans to personally warrant $40B for Paramount connection for WBD

  Larry Ellison, the centibillionaire laminitis and president of Oracle (ORCL), has agreed to personally backstop $40.4 cardinal successful equity financing for Paramount Skydance's (PSKY) projected acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).

  Paramount shares spiked by much than 3% successful premarket trading, portion WBD roseate astir 3.8%.

  In a securities filing Monday morning, Paramount Skydance — led by Larry Ellison's son, David Ellison — said the elder Ellison had agreed to backstop the financing to assuage fears from WBD that Paramount is excessively undercapitalized to beryllium capable to get an acquisition crossed the decorativeness line.

  Paramount has projected a $30 per share, all-cash acquisition of some Warner Brothers' studios and streaming part and its linear web division, successful a woody valued astatine $108.4 billion.

  Paramount's Monday announcement said the Ellison household spot owns astir 1.16 cardinal shares of Oracle communal stock, and that Larry Ellison had agreed not to revoke the spot oregon transportation assets portion negotiations stay open.

  WBD has successful caller weeks go the people of a multi-round bidding warfare betwixt Paramount and Netflix (NFLX) for the storied movie workplace and postulation of broadcast networks.

  Prior to Paramount's announcement connected Monday, WBD had rejected the company's acquisition offer, appearing to extremity the scales successful favour of Netflix's connection that would spot the streaming elephantine sorb WBD's streaming and studios division.

  WBD's broadcast and linear TV part would proceed with plans to beryllium spun disconnected into a abstracted nationalist company, nether the presumption of the Netflix offer.

• Rocket Lab banal continues to summation connected $816 cardinal contract, Electron launch

  Rocket Lab (RKLB) banal extended a astir 18% summation connected Friday, rising different 4% successful premarket trading, aft securing a $816 cardinal declaration to physique satellites for the US Space Force and successfully launching its Electron rocket for the 21st clip this year.

  The latest declaration with the US Space Development Agency (SDA), announced past Friday, marked Rocket Lab's largest azygous declaration to day and brings its full declaration worth with the SDA to $1.3 billion.

  And the motorboat of its Electron rocket connected Sunday for a Japan-based Earth imaging institution called iQPS acceptable a grounds for the fig of palmy launches successful a twelvemonth for the company.

  The duplicate developments boosted the banal to all-time highs. Over the past 5 days, Rocket Lab's banal is up astir 15%, putting its year-to-date gains astatine 176%.

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  Good morning. Here's what's happening today.

• Oil gains arsenic US pursues 3rd tanker successful Venezuela blockade

  Bloomberg reports:

  Oil roseate arsenic President Donald Trump intensified a blockade connected Venezuela, with US forces boarding 1 tanker and pursuing different wrong weeks of archetypal capturing a vessel.

  Brent crude (BZ=F) climbed to astir $61 a barrel, aft 2 play declines. The US Coast Guard boarded the Centuries tanker successful the Caribbean connected Saturday, which was laden with astir 2 cardinal barrels of Venezuelan crude. It was besides successful pursuit of the Bella 1, which was en way to the Latin American nation.

  Washington has been stepping up unit connected Nicolás Maduro’s government, with Trump aiming to choke disconnected its cardinal gross stream. The US has designated the authorities arsenic a overseas violent organization, accusing it of engagement successful cause trafficking. Venezuela inactive has the world’s largest crude reserves, but its exports, astir of which spell to China, present relationship for little than 1% of planetary demand.

  There were besides heightened risks to supplies from different subordinate of the OPEC+ shaper group, aft Ukraine deed an lipid tanker from Russia’s shadiness fleet successful the Mediterranean Sea with drones for the archetypal time. That followed strikes connected Lukoil PJSC facilities successful the Caspian Sea.

  The geopolitical concern has helped enactment a level nether lipid prices, which person dropped by astir a 5th this year. The declines person been driven by an oversupply arsenic some OPEC+ and the group’s competitors raised accumulation volition request maturation slowed.

  NY Mercantile - Delayed Quote • USD

  As of 9:40:03 AM EST. Market Open.

  Read much here.

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  Premarket trending tickers: DJT, Tesla, Micron Technology, Honeywell

  DJT (DJT) banal roseate much than 5% earlier the doorbell connected Monday. The banal soared implicit 50% past week aft announcing a merger with atomic fusion institution TAE Technologies.

  Tesla (TSLA) stock roseate 1% during premarket trading connected Monday. This follows the Delaware Supreme Court determination connected Friday, which overruled the Delaware Chancery Court's 2024 ruling that had struck down CEO Elon Musk's 2018 wage package.

  Micron Technology (MU) banal roseate implicit 2% connected Monday earlier the bell. The chipmakers banal soared 10% past week, pursuing its affirmative net report.

  Honeywell (HON) banal fell astir 1% during premarket trading connected Monday. Honeywell it expects a one-time complaint of astir $470 ‌million successful the 4th fourth related to ‌a imaginable colony of Flexjet-linked litigation.

• The AI tug-of-war betwixt FOMO and bubble angst spells much volatility successful 2026

  Bloomberg reports:

  The US banal marketplace is poised to beryllium kept connected borderline adjacent twelvemonth arsenic investors are caught betwixt fearfulness of missing retired connected the artificial-intelligence rally and interest that it’s a bubble conscionable waiting to burst.

  Big selloffs and speedy reversals person been a diagnostic of banal markets for the past 18 months. That inclination is apt to proceed heading into 2026, with immoderate strategists anticipating that AI volition travel the boom-and-bust rhythm of past technological revolutions.

  The tech companies astatine the halfway of the AI concern roar transportation an outsized influence. While the divergence betwixt the radical and the remainder of the S&P 500 (^GSPC) has helped dampen realized volatility crossed the marketplace successful 2025 arsenic gains successful tech cancel retired declines elsewhere, investors are alert for stumbles successful spot names to spread. That would origin volatility gauges specified arsenic the Cboe Volatility Index to surge.

  “2025 has mostly been a twelvemonth of rotation and constrictive leadership, alternatively than 1 of wide risk-on versus risk-off,” said Kieran Diamond, derivatives strategist astatine UBS Group AG. “This has helped to resistance implied correlation levels down to grounds lows, which successful crook leaves the VIX astatine hazard of ongoing outsized spikes whenever we spot macro drivers taking implicit again.”

  The standard of the stock-price runup has made angst astir a bubble the apical interest among money managers, a caller Bank of America Corp. (BAC) survey found. But different is the classical hazard of missing retired if it inactive has much country to tally — perchance punishing anyone who pulls backmost excessively early.

  The strategists expect equity volatility to beryllium supported successful 2026 chiefly due to the fact that plus bubbles thin to get much unstable arsenic they inflate. As a result, they accidental investors should expect occasional declines surpassing 10%, but with record-fast snapbacks arsenic traders recognize the bubble isn’t popping yet.

  Read much here.

• Gold and metallic deed all-time highs arsenic geopolitical tensions rise

  Bloomberg reports:

  Gold (GC=F) and metallic (SI=F)soared to all-time highs, arsenic escalating geopolitical tensions and bets connected further US complaint cuts added momentum to the champion yearly show successful much than 4 decades.

  Bullion climbed much than 1.5% to surpass the erstwhile grounds of $4,381 an ounce acceptable successful October, portion metallic rallied arsenic overmuch arsenic 3.4%, closing successful connected $70 an ounce, extending gains that person enactment some metals firmly connected people for their strongest yearly show since 1979.

  COMEX - Delayed Quote • USD

  As of 9:40:06 AM EST. Market Open.

  The latest propulsion higher comes arsenic traders stake that the Federal Reserve volition chopped involvement rates doubly successful 2026, arsenic US President Donald Trump besides advocates for looser monetary policy. Lower rates are typically a tailwind for precious metals, which don’t wage interest.

  Rising geopolitical tensions are besides enhancing the haven entreaty of golden and silver. The US has intensified an lipid blockade against Venezuela, stepping up unit connected the authorities of President Nicolás Maduro, portion Ukraine attacked an lipid tanker from Russia’s shadiness fleet successful the Mediterranean Sea for the archetypal time.

  Read much here.

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  Clearwater Analytics shares emergence connected $8.4B buyout deal

  Clearwater Analytics Holdings (CWAN) banal roseate 7% earlier the doorbell connected Monday aft a radical of backstage equity firms led by Permira and Warburg Pincus clinched a woody to get the concern and accounting bundle shaper ​for astir $8.4 billion, including debt, the parties said successful a associated connection connected Sunday.

  Reuters reports:

  Read much here.