Today At A Glance:

U.S. stocks finished higher as investors largely looked through Day 1 of the federal government shutdown; the S&P 500 closed above 6,700 for the first time on record while the Nasdaq outperformed. Healthcare led gains after reports of a Pfizer–White House Medicaid pricing deal eased tariff worries and lit a fire under big pharma. At the same time, gold notched another record near $3,900/oz as the dollar slipped and traders hedged policy uncertainty. A surprise ADP private-payrolls decline added to the sense that rate cuts could arrive sooner even as the shutdown complicates data flow. Stock-specific headlines (Nike’s upside report; utilities and EV supply-chain pops) kept the tape busy throughout the session.

Today’s Index Performance:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) — The Dow opened at 46,366.78 and closed at 46,528.78, a +0.35% move.
• S&P 500 (^GSPC) — The S&P opened at 6,664.92 and closed at 6,718.48, a +0.80% move (and its first close above 6,700).
• Nasdaq Composite — The Nasdaq opened at 22,530.95 and closed at 22,766.92, a +1.05% gain.

Gainers Of Note:

• Lithium Americas (NYSE: LAC) — Lithium developer (Thacker Pass); surged ~25–30% after the U.S. Department of Energy took 5% stakes in both LAC and its JV with GM, turbo-charging the U.S. battery-materials push.
• AES (NYSE: AES) — Global power utility; jumped ~16% on reports BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners is near a $38B acquisition of the company.
• Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) — mRNA biotech; rallied ~6–9% as health-care stocks ripped on drug-pricing headlines; MRNA showed one of the sector’s bigger percentage moves.

Losers Of Note:

• Corteva (NYSE: CTVA) — Seeds & crop-protection; fell ~8–9% after unveiling plans to split into two publicly traded companies (seed vs. crop-protection).
• Netflix (NASDAQ NFLX) — Streaming; slid ~2–3% after Elon Musk publicly backed a boycott, adding pressure to the shares.
• Wolfspeed (NYSE: WOLF) — Silicon-carbide chips; dropped ~11–16% amid post-restructuring volatility one day after exiting Chapter 11.

Active Traders Of Note:

• Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) — Heavy volume as the market positioned for Q3 delivery numbers and ripple effects from the expired $7,500 U.S. EV tax credit.
• Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) — Active trade continued on persistent AI infrastructure headlines (including the OpenAI tie-up narrative) keeping semis in focus.
• Nike (NYSE: NKE) — Busy tape after a better-than-expected quarterly report powered the stock and spurred follow-through interest.

Looking Forward:

With the shutdown in effect, investors will watch for knock-on impacts such as delayed economic releases and scaled-back regulator operations, even as rate-cut odds firm up. Near-term catalysts include Tesla’s delivery update and early-October data (ISM, claims) that could test today’s “bad-news-is-good-news” rally. If healthcare leadership persists and gold stays bid, we could see continued rotation into defensives alongside AI-led tech strength into tomorrow’s open.

Note: The stock performance summaries are based on general trends observed over the past ten trading days and are not indicative of future results.

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