The S&P 500 edged higher on Monday, as investors weighed a looming tariff deadline against opportunity in some of the more volatile investments of the past year like Tesla.

The broad index climbed 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 174 points, or 0.4%. The Nasdaq Composite flickered around flat, as a slide of 4% in Nvidia mitigated gains elsewhere within the technology sector.

The broader market got upward momentum from Tesla, which jumped more than 3% after Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said it could rebound. Palantir, another retail investor favorite, jumped more than 5%.

Cryptocurrencies also rallied after President Donald Trump announced the creation of a strategic crypto reserve for the U.S. that will include bitcoin and ether. Bitcoin briefly jumped 10% to nearly $94,000 after dipping to a three-month low under $80,000 on Friday. Shares of crypto exchange stocks including Coinbase, Robinhood and MicroStrategy surged.

Those moves into more speculative trades appeared to pull attention from Trump's plans to impose import taxes on key U.S. trading partners this week. These policy proposals have rattled investors and stirred up market volatility recently as traders worry that they will reignite inflation.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday on Fox News that the exact tariff that will be levied against Mexico and Canada starting Tuesday is still "fluid," which means it could be lower than the proposed 25%. He added that the additional 10% duty on China imports is "set."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CBS that Mexico has offered to match the U.S. tariffs on China, potentially as a way to get out of the tariffs set to be imposed against them on Tuesday.

Monday marks the start of a new trading month after the three major indexes notched losses for February. Notably, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was the underperformer with a 4% slide, marking its worst month since April 2024.

Source : CNBC