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

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.