Dow Jones Flat As Debt Ceiling, Retail Earnings Loom; Microsoft Rises On Win As Tesla Shareholders Vote On Co-Founder

As big retailers prepare to report earnings, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat on Monday at noon ET. This week, Dow Jones retailers Walmart and Home Depot (HD), along with Target (TGT), report earnings.

Tesla (TSLA), will be holding its annual shareholder's meeting on Tuesday. The shareholders will vote on five propositions, including the nomination of J.B. Straubel as a board member. Straubel, who is credited as co-founder of Tesla, worked on the battery technology in 2004. TSLA's stock dropped less than 1%.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden will continue their debt ceiling discussions on Tuesday. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said over the weekend that there were "some areas where agreement" could be reached.

The Nasdaq grew by 0.4%.

Volumes on the NYSE & Nasdaq were lower than the same time last Friday.

Crude oil rose by nearly 2%, trading at $71.34 a barrel. The yield of the benchmark 10-year Treasury bill rose by 3 basis points, to 3.49%.

The Russell 2000 small-cap index gained 1%. The Innovator IBD 50 rose by 0.1%.

Retail Week on Deck

Retail earnings are expected to be big. Footwear stocks and IBD Leaderboard's On Holding (ONON Home Depot) are due Tuesday.

IBD SwingTrader Dynatrace stock (DT Cisco). DT is in a base cup with a purchase point of 48.10 before earnings.

Alibaba (BABA), Walmart and Applied Materials report on Thursday along with Ross Stores. AMAT has cleared the 50-day level within a flat basis with a purchase point of 125.72. ROST tested Monday's 50-day line around noon.

Take-Two Interactive shares (TTWO), which are approaching a purchase point of 137.53, will be due on Wednesday.

According to IBD MarketSmith's chart analysis, Dow Jones retail leader Walmart has a range of buys starting at 148.44 on a base with a double bottom.

Foot Locker (FL), on Friday, wraps up its earnings for the week.

Empire State Manufacturing Index dropped 42.6 points, to a negative 31.8. This indicates a contraction in the economy. After March's 1% drop, Tuesday is the day to watch for retail sales in April.

Stocks moving today Outside Dow Jones

Sarepta Therapeutics soared by over 20% and surpassed its 50-day line with a strong volume, after the RNA drugmaker received FDA approval for their Duchenne muscular Dystrophy treatment.

Microsoft (MSFT), which has a slight rise, rose after the European Union removed a roadblock to its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The EU said that Dow Jones Tech Leader had offered remedies in order to ease antitrust concerns about cloud gaming. ATVI has been on a winning streak of four days. The shares had fallen below the 50-day level earlier, and they are still below this key level.

Magellan Midstream Partners surged by over 10% after news broke that Oneok (OKE), will purchase the Tulsa (Okla.) company for $18,8 billion. Oneok is falling and undercutting its own base.

Newmont (NEM), a gold stock, is in negotiations to purchase Australia's Newcrest Mining at a price of $17.5 billion. NEM's stock is rising and gaining support near the 200-day line. Newmont is traded on the Australian Stock Exchange.

C3.ai shares (AI) rose 19% following the company's revised revenue forecast for the fourth-quarter. At noon, the stock crossed its 50-day level.

Monday (MNDY)

Analyst Upgrades

The shares of Schwab (SCHW), rose after Raymond James analyst Patrick O'Shaughnessy upgraded them to outperform, from market perform.

Ben Kallo, a Baird analyst, upgraded Albemarle to Buy from Hold. The new price target is 288, up by 222. Sociedad Quimica climbed in sympathy with the rise of SQM. Earnings are due on Thursday.

IBD Leaderboard Meta Platforms grew after Loop Capital upgraded it to buy from Hold. META stock rose by 1.4% in the opening hour.