Alphabet's Market Cap Tops $3B for First Time

Wall Street ticked to more records on Monday.

• The S&P 500 rose 30.99 points, or 0.5%, to 6,615.28. and topped its prior all-time high set last week.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 49.23 points, or 0.1%, to 45,883.45.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 207.65 points, or 0.9%, to 22,348.75, adding to its own record.

Tesla jumped 3.6% after Elon Musk bought stock worth roughly $1 billion in it, apparently signaling his faith in the electric vehicle company, the AP reports. The only stronger force lifting the S&P 500 was Alphabet, which gained 4.5% as the total value of Google's parent company topped $3 trillion. Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple are the only other companies on Wall Street worth that much.

The market's main event for the week will arrive on Wednesday. That's when the Federal Reserve will announce its latest decision on interest rates, and the unanimous expectation is for the first cut of the year. Such a move could give a kickstart to the job market, which has been slowing. Stocks have already run to records on the assumption that a cut is coming on Wednesday, though. Expectations are also high that the Fed will keep lowering rates through the end of this year and into 2026. That creates the possibility for disappointment in the market, which would mean drops for stock prices if the Fed doesn't end up slashing rates as aggressively as traders expect. That's why more attention will be on what Fed Chair Jerome Powell says in his press conference following the decision than on the decision itself.

On Wall Street, TKO Group climbed 2% after the owner of the UFC mixed-martial arts organization and other entertainment brands announced a plan for $1 billion in purchases of its stock. Such moves send cash directly to shareholders and can boost per-share results. Intel rose 2.9% after trimming its forecast for expenses this year. The move came after it completed the sale of a 51% stake in its Altera business to the Silver Lake investment firm. On the losing side of Wall Street was Hain Celestial, which fell 24.6% after reporting a larger loss for its latest quarter than it did a year earlier. Interim CEO Alison Lewis said the owner of "better-for-you" brands like Terra chips is making moves to stabilize sales "as we recognize our performance has not met expectations."

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Alaska Air Group lost 6.7% after the airline said high fuel costs will likely cause its third-quarter results to come in at the low end of its forecasted range. It also cited higher expenses for overtime pay and for passengers' compensation after bad weather and air-traffic control issues led to difficult operations in the summer, though it saw strong airfare trends thanks to demand for premium seats. Nvidia slipped early Monday after China accused the chip company of violating its antimonopoly law, but it recovered almost all of its losses and was down just 0.04% at the end of the day.