Wall Street Wavers On Mixed Retail Sales, Nvidia Falls Ahead Of GTC AI Conference, Intel Rallies: What's Driving Markets Monday?

Stocks were little moved during midday Monday trading in New York, as a mixed retail sales report failed to generate a bullish response from investors.

Retail sales rose 0.2% month-over-month in February, rebounding from a concerning 1.2% decline in January but falling short of the 0.6% forecast. Yet, when excluding volatile categories, the picture looked slightly brighter.

The control group measure — which strips out sales from auto dealers, building materials, gas stations, office supply stores, mobile home dealers and tobacco retailers — rose 1% in February, fully offsetting January’s 1% decline and significantly surpassing the expected 0.2% increase.

Despite this, concerns over a broader economic slowdown remain, with traders now looking ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell‘s speech on Wednesday for reassurance that the U.S. economy is not headed for a recession.

Major indices remained broadly flat, though small caps outperformed. Energy led sector gains, while consumer discretionary lagged.

In currency markets, the U.S. dollar index softened 0.3%, heading towards six-month lows. Gold continued to edge higher, hovering around the symbolic all-time high of $3,000 per ounce level.

Oil prices rebounded 0.8%, as crude rallied following President Donald Trump’s vow to strike the Houthis in the Red Sea. Bitcoin BTC/USD climbed 1.4%, recovering some ground after a 2% drop on Sunday.

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY inched 0.2% up to $564.16.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.5% to $417.56.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ eased 0.1% to $479.08.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rose 0.7%.
• The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE outperformed, up 1.6%; the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY lagged, down 0.6%.

Monday’s Stock Movers

• Shares of NVIDIA Corp. NVDA dropped 2.6% on Monday, as investors braced for the company’s highly anticipated GTC AI conference, set to begin later in the day.
• Netflix Inc. NFLX surged 3.6% after Moffett Nathanson upgraded its rating from “Neutral” to “Buy” and raised the stock’s price target by $250 to $1,100.
• Tesla Inc. TSLA tumbled 6% decline, giving back some of the gains from Friday
• Chipmaker Intel Corp. INTC jumped 7.6% after a Reuters report indicated incoming CEO Lip-Bu Tan may streamline operations by reducing middle management layers, optimizing chip production and launching new AI-focused semiconductors.
• Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc. BIDU climbed 7.5% following the unveiling of Ernie X1, its latest artificial intelligence model. Baidu asserts that Ernie X1 delivers performance levels comparable to rival DeepSeek’s AI but at only half the cost.
• Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. NCLH gained 4.4%, reaching $20.04, after JPMorgan upgraded the cruise operator’s stock to “Overweight” from “Neutral.”
• In contrast, Affirm Holdings Inc. AFRM tumbled 10% after Swedish fintech Klarna announced it would become the exclusive Buy Now, Pay Later provider for Walmart Inc. WMT. Previously, Affirm held that exclusive partnership.

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