Stock market today: S&P 500 closes higher as Tesla leads charge

Investing.com -- The S&P500 closed higher Monday, underpinned by a big tech and Tesla-driven rally ahead of key earnings from chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA ) as well as comments from a series of Fed officials.

At 4.00 p.m. ET (2100 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average 55 points lower, or 0.1% and the S&P 500 index rose 0.4%, while the NASDAQ Composite gained 0.6%.

The three main indices retreated last week, falling back from the recent highs seen in the wake of Donald Trump’s election win after Fed chief Jerome Powell warned that the US central bank was not “in a hurry” to cut interest rates further. Tesla soars on self-driving hopes; Spirit Airlines files for bankruptcy

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA ) stock soared over 5% following reports from Bloomberg that the incoming Trump administration will establish a federal framework for fully self-driving vehicles and make it a top priority for the Department of Transportation.

Big tech was also in the driving seat, with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL ), and Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL ) closing more than 1%.

Roku Inc (NASDAQ:ROKU ) jumped 7% after Baird upgraded the streaming device maket to to outperform from neutral amid optimism that the pullback in the company';s shares present a long-term buying opportunity. 

Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE ) was also in the spotlight after the budget carrier filed for bankruptcy protection after years of mounting losses, stating that it has reached a prearranged deal with its bondholders to help it through the bankruptcy, which it expects to exit in the first quarter of next year.  Nvidia slips ahead of earnings

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA ) cut some losses, but closed 1% lower after The Information reported that the chipmaker's new Blackwell AI chips are experiencing overheating issues.  

The report comes just days ahead of the Nvidia's third quarter results after the close on Wednesday.

The results could well be a gauge for investors’ appetite for tech stocks, the AI trade and sentiment for equities broadly, after a post-election market rally stalled.

Nvidia’s chips are seen as the gold standard in the AI-space and its shares have risen around 200% this year, overtaking Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL ) to become the world's largest company by market capitalization.

There are also results due this week from the likes of Walmart (NYSE:WMT ) and Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW ) Companies, which will give fresh insights into the strength of consumer spending.

So far 93% of S&P 500 companies have reported results, and three-quarters of them have reported a positive EPS surprise and 61% have reported a positive revenue surprise, according to data from FactSet. PMI data in spotlight

The U.S. economic calendar is quieter in the week ahead, with the main focus being on manufacturing and service sector PMI data on Friday.

Ahead of the PMI data, the National Association of Homebuilder's reported its  housing market index for November rose to a reading of 46 versus 43 last month. 

This could give early indications on how companies are reacting to the threat of Trump's proposed trade tariffs - a data point that will be closely watched by markets from here on.

Investors will also get the chance to hear from several Federal Reserve officials, including Kansas Fed President Jeffrey Schmid and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack.

Source: Investing.com