The U.S. manufacturing index jumps as Tesla’s meteoric rise continues and more in Monday’s Closing Bell on Money and Markets.

The Top Story

For the first time in six months, U.S. manufacturing beat estimates and reported growth for a sector badly in need of good news.

The Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing index jumped to 50.9 in January, up from 47.8 reported in December. It’s the largest gain in the index over a month since 2013.

Scoring just above 50 indicates expansion in the market — something that hasn’t occurred since July 2019.

The index trended down in the latter half of 2019 thanks to the U.S. trade war with China and a drop in business investment by American manufacturing companies.

Money and Markets: Closing Bell*

S&P 500: 3,248 (+23 points, +0.7%)
DOW: 28,399 (+143 points, +0.5%)
NASDAQ: 9,273 (+122 points, +1.3%)
GOLD: $1,576 (-$11.90, -0.7%)
BITCOIN: $9,290.51 (-$140.47, -1.5%)
U.S. 10-YEAR YIELD: 1.52%

*- as of 4:20 p.m.

A Big Win

In Monday morning’s Wall Street Wake-Up, we told you about Aimmune Therapeutics being approved for a drug to treat peanut allergies. As a result, shares were up more than 6%.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSW: VZ) suffered a 2.3% drop in share price after Credit Suisse downgraded the company to “neutral” from “outperform.”

After Goldman Sachs dropped the rating of Northrup Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) to “buy” from “sell,” shares of the defense contractor fell 2.9%.

M&A News

As we reported in this morning’s Wall Street Wake-Up, Forever 21 has filed paperwork to sell its stores to a group of mall owners for $81 million. Among the group of owners is Simon Property Group Inc., Brookfield Property Partners LP and Authentic Brands Group LLC.

Golden Nuggets

As markets rebounded Monday from last week’s sharp losses, gold and silver started to retreat.

Silver prices dipped back below $18 an ounce as they lost $0.38 to trade at $17.64 an ounce in Monday afternoon trading. Gold dropped off $12 to $1,576.50 an ounce.

While gold and silver backed off, platinum and palladium were both up.

Platinum prices moved up $8 to $966 an ounce while palladium was up $17 to $2,207 an ounce. One analyst has suggested palladium is poised to test nearly $3,000 an ounce in the near future.

Cannabis Corner

Cannabis company Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) got some good news Monday. Its production facility at Aurora River received European Union Good Manufacturing Practice certification.

The company also received approval to resume medical cannabis sales in Germany. Temporary sales of certain products were suspended in December.

Aurora Cannabis shares rose nearly 6% Monday.

Stock Market Update

Shares of Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) continued to climb Monday. Shares of the electric automaker rose 19.9% Monday. Additionally, Zoom Video Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: ZM) jumped 14.9%.

U.S. markets started off strong but sold back some of its early Monday gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%. The S&P 500 moved up 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.3%.

In other market news, oil dropped to its lowest level in a year Monday as the coronavirus continued to worry investors.

West Texas Crude dropped 3% to $50 a barrel while Brent Crude — the international benchmark — fell off 4.1% to $54.27 a barrel.

At one point, West Texas Crude dropped to $49.92 a barrel.

Today’s Big Winners:

Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) +19.9%

Baidu Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU) +5.6%

Gilead Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) +5%

NortonLifeLock Inc. (Nasdaq: NLOK) +4.4%

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) +3.1%

Today’s Big Losers:

Sysco Corp. (NYSE: SYY) -6.7%

Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC) -5.7%

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) -4.8%

Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA) -2.6%

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) -2.2%

Check back for the most important news and numbers each day after the Closing Bell, only on Money and Markets. 

Don’t forget about “Marijuana Markets: a POTcast,” featuring the biggest cannabis news and investment notes from Banyan Hill’s Anthony Planas, here on Money and Markets each Saturday morning.