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Taipei, Taiwan headquarters of Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn.Key Takeaways
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The S&P 500 added 0.6% on Monday, Jan. 6, led by a surge in semiconductor stocks as the first full week of the new year began.
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Teradyne shares pushed higher as Northland Securities analysts highlighted upside potential for the company's electronic testing equipment.
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Shares of Palantir Technologies, the S&P 500's top-performing stock in 2024, sank as analysts from Morgan Stanley cited valuation concerns.
Major U.S. equities indexes were mixed at the onset of the first full week of 2025, which will include a day off from trading on Thursday in remembrance of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, followed by the expected release of the December jobs report on Friday morning.
The S&P 500 added 0.6%, while upbeat indications of semiconductor demand helped lift the tech-heavy Nasdaq 1.2%. After trading in positive territory for most of the day, the Dow lost steam in the afternoon to end Monday's session with a minor downtick of less than 0.1%.
Taiwan-based technology manufacturer Foxconn posted record revenue for the fourth quarter, citing strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. The report helped boost shares of companies across the semiconductor industry, including AI chip behemoth and key Foxconn customer Nvidia (NVDA), whose shares added 3.4%. Shares of memory solutions specialist Micron Technology (MU), whose tech is incorporated in Nvidia's next-generation Blackwell AI platforms, surged 10.5%, notching Monday's strongest performance in the S&P 500.
Other companies benefitted from the wave of AI server optimism. Shares of server maker Super Micro Computer (SMCI) soared 9.4% following positive commentary from Lynx Equity. Analysts expect today's keynote remarks by Nvidia at the CES conference to include an update on the newest iteration of its Blackwell AI chips, which could serve as a catalyst for Supermicro, given the key role of Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) in the firm's most advanced servers.
Shares of electronic testing equipment manufacturer Teradyne (TER) jumped 7.2% after Northland Securities upgraded the stock to "outperform" and boosted its price target. Analysts believe Teradyne is well positioned to gain market share in the sector as cloud computing companies use the firm's testing platform to design application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Northland also indicated that ongoing technological transitions in the semiconductor industry could boost demand for Teradyne's testers.
Axon Enterprise (AXON) shares fell the most of any S&P 500 stock on Monday, tumbling 5.1% to their lowest level since the manufacturer of the Taser and other law enforcement equipment posted stronger-than-expected quarterly sales and profits in early November. Despite today's decline, Axon stock has more than doubled in value over the past year, boosted by enthusiasm for its AI solutions and substantial technology budgets among police departments.