S&P 500, Nasdaq soar, lead Dow higher as Senate vote lifts hopes for end to US shutdown

Stocks rallied to session highs with one hour left of trading on Monday.

The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) surged over 2.2%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) jumped 1.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.8%.

Investors took on risk as the prospect of the government reopening this week increased with the Senate advancing a bill that could seal the deal.

Shares in Venture Global (VG) rallied by more than 6% in midday trading on Monday after the liquified natural gas (LNG) producer and exporter posted third quarter revenues and earnings per share that exploded over levels at the same time last year.

Venture Global reported revenues of $3.3 billion in the third quarter, beating analyst estimates and exceeding revenues from the same quarter last year by 260% as LNG export demand in the US has surged.

The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.50 for the quarter, soaring over analyst expectations of $0.23 and coming in more than 430% higher than levels in the third quarter of 2024.

“In my mind, the extraordinary list of accomplishments achieved in the past few months tells the story of Venture Global’s unwavering commitment to streamline high-impact execution in its growth to date,” founder and CEO Michael Sabel said on the third quarter earnings call.

In the US, which is already the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, capacity for liquefaction — the process of converting natural gas to an exportable liquid form — is expected to more than double by 2029, according to a forecast from the Energy Information Administration surveying planned projects from some of the country’s leading exporters.

North American exports of LNG overall are also expected to more than double over the same period, according to the EIA. Venture Global is the second-largest exporter of natural gas in the country, behind Cheniere Energy (LNG).

Demand for natural gas is quickly rising globally as the product takes up an increasing amount of the supply share for energy, traditionally dominated by oil. While the count of oil rigs in the US has fallen precipitously year-on-year, the count of natural gas rigs is up 18% over the same time last year, according to the American Gas Association.

While prices remain below historical highs in the 2000s, futures on natural gas (NG=F) are up more than 38% over the past month and expected to continue rising through 2026 and 2027, as demand grows over the same period.

Warren Buffett will no longer write annual letters to Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK-B, BRK-A) investors or speak at the firm’s annual meetings, Yahoo Finance’s Myles Udland reports.

He reports:

Read more here.

Eli Lilly (LLY) rallied to an all-time high Monday morning on a series of deal headlines, hitting $981.99 before paring gains.

On Monday morning, news broke that the company had signed a deal worth $475 million with MeiraGTx Holdings (MGTX), granting Eli Lilly rights to an experimental gene therapy treatment developed by Meira. The gene therapy is intended to treat a rare disorder that causes severe vision problems from birth, according to Reuters.

At the end of last week, the White House announced deals with Eli Lilly and fellow pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk (NVO) that will see the two drugmakers offer their hyper-popular GLP-1 weight-loss drugs for customers on Medicare and Medicaid plans, as well as cash payers.

Prices on Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Orforglipron drugs, if approved, will fall to an average of $346 per month from $1,086 per month through the new “TrumpRX” program, according to a White House press release announcing the deal.

Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy will fall to $350 per month from $1,000 and $1,350 per month through the program, according to the press release.

The price scheme also includes cuts on other drugs offered by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, and includes provisions that would bring prices down even further for Novo’s Wegovy if the FDA approves a pill formulation.

Shares in Nvidia (NVDA) picked up more than 4% in the first hours of trading on Monday as the tech sector began to stage a rebound from Friday’s sell-off on positive movement in Washington toward resolving the shutdown.

Shares in fellow “Magnificent Seven” members Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) performed similarly, gaining more than 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively, on Monday, while Alphabet (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN) rallied by more than 3% and 1.3%, respectively.

The tech sector led a steep sell-off on Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) falling 0.3% to close out last week down more than 3% over the five-day stretch, its biggest weekly loss since April. Growing fears about an AI bubble and hyper-inflated stock valuations spooked investors, causing the “Magnificent Seven” stocks to shed value.

But news out of Washington that the Senate had advanced a bill to end the government shutdown prompted a rally on Monday morning, led by the tech sector. The Nasdaq Composite gained more than 1.8% Monday morning, climbing by more than 430 points.

After briefly crossing the $5 trillion market capitalization mark at the end of October, Nvidia — still the world’s most valuable company — sat at a valuation of around $4.75 trillion through Monday morning.

Shares in US airlines, which have been roiled as the government shutdown has dragged on, popped shortly after the opening bell on Monday on news of a breakthrough in Washington, but then pared gains.

Shares in Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Airlines (UAL) gained more than 1.2% and more than 0.5%, respectively, after news broke late Sunday night that the Senate had advanced a bill to end the government shutdown. JetBlue Airways (JBLU) and Southwest (LUV) saw their shares rally by more than 0.7% and more than 1.6%, respectively.

As of 10:00 a.m. ET, all four airlines had pared their gains, with United slipping into the red by more than 4%.

US airways have been thrown into chaos over the past month as air traffic control workers, crucial to the safe operation of airspace, have gone without pay, prompting widespread delays and cancellations.

Over the weekend, major US airports were instructed by the Department of Transportation to cut their flight capacity by up to 10%, just as the busy holiday season approached. As of 7:15 a.m. ET Monday morning, around 5.5% of the day’s scheduled flights had been canceled, according to data reported by Bloomberg,

Chicago O’Hare, Newark Liberty International, and LaGuardia Airport were the hardest-hit airports, with at least 8% of their flights canceled. Delta Air Lines suffered the most cancellations among the airlines.

Gains for tech stocks underpinned a broader rally at the start of trading on Monday, after the Senate advanced a new bill to end the longest government shutdown in US history.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led the advance, climbing by more than 1.8%. Meanwhile, the broad benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved up 1.1% and 0.6%, respectively.

Bloomberg reports on early Treasury moves after a breakthrough on Capitol Hill that could lead to an end to the shutdown.

While Reuters took note of another market that moved quickly on shutdown optimism: Oil.