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News of the day for Nov. 18, 2025

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Home Depot kicked off what will be a busy week of retail sector earnings.

Stock futures are lower Tuesday morning after major indexes fell sharply to open the week; Home Depot reported lower quarterly profits than analysts had expected; Apple's new iPhone 17 gave the smartphone maker its best month of market share in China in three years; Nvidia stock is moving lower again as investors prepare for the chipmaker's results; and buy now, pay later firm Klarna posted its first earnings report since going public in September. Here's what investors need to know today.

Stocks Poised to Open Lower After Sharp Losses to Start Week

Stock futures are pointing to a lower open Tuesday after each of the major indexes lost ground in Monday's trading session. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were recently down 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively, while those connected to the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.6% amid ongoing concerns about the possibility of an AI bubble (see more below). Bitcoin was at $91,300, after falling to a seven-month low overnight below $90,000. Gold futures were down 1% at $4,030 an ounce, while crude oil futures fell slightly to just under $60 per barrel. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects all sorts of consumer loans, was at 4.11% recently, down from 4.13% late Monday.

Home Depot Stock Drops as Profits Miss Estimates

Home Depot (HD) kicked off a busy week of retail earnings Tuesday morning, reporting a 4 cent year-over-year decline in adjusted earnings per share to $3.74, while revenue grew 2.8% to $41.35 billion. Sales topped analysts' estimates compiled by Visible Alpha, while adjusted EPS fell short by 10 cents. CEO Ted Decker said the retailer believes its results fell short of its own expectations because of a continuously weak housing market and a lack of severe storms in the quarter, which hampered demand for home improvement products. Shares of Home Depot, a Dow component, were down more than 3% in recent premarket trading. Other major retailers set to report earnings this week include home improvement rival Lowe's (LOW), Target (TGT), TJX Companies (TJX), Ross Stores (ROST), BJ's Wholesale (BJ), Gap (GAP) and Walmart (WMT), which announced a CEO succession plan last week.

Apple Gets a Boost From Strong China iPhone Sales

Apple's (AAPL) newest slate of iPhones, the iPhone 17, appears to be boosting the company's efforts to return to the role of market leader in China. The tech giant saw a 37% increase in smartphone sales in the region in the month of October, according to data from Counterpoint Research reported by Bloomberg, as China's overall smartphone market grew 8% in the month. Apple was responsible for about a quarter of smartphones sold in China in October, the first time it has hit that mark since 2022, per Bloomberg. China is a key market for Apple, but the iPhone maker has been losing ground to domestic competitors in recent years. Apple shares, which hit a record high a week ago, were up slightly in premarket trading.

Nvidia Shares Extending Losses Ahead of Earnings

Nvidia (NVDA) shares are losing ground again this morning as investors prepare for the chipmaker's highly anticipated earnings report after the closing bell tomorrow. Investors have been rattled recently by growing questions about whether the artificial intelligence boom has created a bubble in the stock market. The AI-fueled rally has turned Nvidia into the world's most valuable company, as it is the recipient of much of the spending from "hyperscalers" such as Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN) and Meta (META). Nvidia is expected to report rising revenue and profits, though investors and analysts will likely be focused more on CEO Jensen Huang's comments about the outlook for demand. Traders are pricing in the likelihood of a big move in Nvidia shares after the earnings report is released. The stock, which fell nearly 2% on Monday, was down about 1% this morning.

Klarna Releases First Earnings Report Since IPO

Klarna (KLAR), a buy now, pay later company that went public in September, released quarterly results that topped Wall Street estimates. Klarna said its revenue grew to $903 million, while it lost $0.25 per share in the quarter, each better than the analyst consensus compiled by Visible Alpha. Gross monetary value, or the total amount of products bought with Klarna's services, beat estimates at $32.7 billion, as did its number of active users at 114 million. Shares were up slightly in recent premarket trading. Klarna's stock has trended lower since its IPO in September, but analysts have stayed bullish on the stock.

 Hwawon Ceci Lee / Anadolu / Getty Images

Nvidia shares have added close to 40% of their value in 2025 so far

Key Takeaways

• Nvidia is scheduled to release quarterly results after the closing bell Wednesday, with Wall Street analysts expecting the AI chipmaker to report a roughly 60% increase in revenue.
• Options pricing suggests traders expect Nvidia's stock could move nearly 7% in either direction after the results.

Nvidia is set to report its latest quarterly results after the closing bell Wednesday, with traders expecting a big move in the AI chipmaker's stock.

Options pricing suggests traders expect Nvidia (NVDA) shares could move nearly 7% in either direction by the end of the week. A move of that size from Monday's close near $187 could help the shares recover some of their recent losses to return to last week's levels around $199, or pull them down to about $174, a level not seen since September.

In recent quarters, Nvidia's earnings have tended to be a sell-the-news event, despite a string of record-breaking results. In all but one of the most-recent four quarters, the chipmaker's stock finished the week lower than its levels heading into the event.

With expectations riding high ahead of the earnings, and results from rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and other AI favorites indicating investors may be harder to impress this season, Nvidia could face an increasingly difficult bar to clear.

Why This Matters for Investors

This year's big rally in AI stocks, which made Nvidia the world's most valuable public company by market capitalization, has fueled worries about an AI bubble, and investors will be watching closely whether the chipmaker can deliver on its ambitious growth targets. Nvidia's earnings release is the most highly anticipated event of the earnings season, and it's likely to have a big impact on the broader stock market.

Nvidia is seen reporting adjusted third-quarter earnings per share of $1.26 on a nearly 60% year-over-year jump in revenue to a record $55.4 billion, according to estimates collected by Visible Alpha.

Whisper numbers could be even higher, with analysts from Jefferies and Wedbush telling clients recently that they expect the AI darling to "beat and raise," or top analysts' quarterly projections as well as lift its full-year outlook.

Still, Wall Street analysts are widely bullish Nvidia's stock has room to rise after a nearly 40% gain in 2025 so far. All but one of the 13 analysts with current ratings compiled by Visible Alpha call it a "buy," with their mean target near $219 suggesting roughly 17% upside from Monday's close.

Shares of Nvidia slid about 2% Monday amid broader tech sector losses.

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Job seekers attend a career fair in November after the summer slowdown.

Key Takeaways

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish its report on Thursday on September job creation, after a six-week delay caused by the government shutdown.
  
• U.S. employers are forecast to have added 51,000 jobs, more than the 22,000 in August, although less than the 147,000 average in the 12 months through April.
  
• Uncertainty about tariffs has weighed on job creation, resulting in a significant hiring slowdown.
  

A long-delayed report on job growth Thursday is likely to show the job market bounced back in September after a dismal summer.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to publish its monthly report on job creation and unemployment for September on Thursday, six weeks after its regularly scheduled release. The report was one of many official statistics delayed by the government shutdown that ended last week. It will indicate whether and to what extent the job market has recovered after a significant slowdown over the majority of the summer.

U.S. employers likely added 51,000 jobs in September, according to a consensus forecast cited by economists at Bank of America. That would be more than double the 22,000 added in August, but still relatively few by recent standards: The economy added an average of 147,000 jobs each month in the 12 months through April, for example.

What This Means For The Economy

A worse-than-expected job report could be a red flag that the labor market has gone from its low-hiring, low-firing limbo into something worse.

The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 4.3%, a relatively low rate by historic standards, according to the consensus forecast.

The report will demonstrate how well the job market is weathering several headwinds, including uncertainty created by President Donald Trump's increased tariffs on most U.S. trading partners and the growing use of artificial intelligence.

It will also influence policymakers at the Federal Reserve, who will meet in December to set the nation's benchmark interest rate. Members of the Fed's policy committee are split on whether to cut rates to boost the economy and job market, or keep them higher for longer to push inflation down to the Fed's target of a 2% annual rate.

A worse-than-expected jobs report could sway some Fed members toward a rate cut, while faster job growth would give ammunition to those arguing for a focus on inflation.

Thursday's report may not be the last word on the health of the job market for the next Fed meeting, which takes place Dec. 9 and 10. In addition to data from private companies, the Fed could see reports for October and November before then.

However, the November report could be delayed past the meeting, and the October report may not be published at all or may include incomplete statistics, due to the lack of data collection during the shutdown.

That could be important as private data painted an unclear picture of the labor market at the beginning of fall, and major company layoffs have been in the headlines in recent weeks.

Alex Wroblewski / AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Congress will have to approve President Donald Trump's proposal for a $2,00 tariff rebate check,.

Key Takeaways

• President Donald Trump said that a tariff rebate check was unlikely to be issued until 2026, dashing hopes that it could arrive in time for the holiday shopping season.
• However, other White House officials stated that Congress must first approve the concept of Trump’s $2,000 tariff “dividend.”
• Some legislators raised questions about how tariff revenues should be spent, saying that the country’s deficit posed a challenge, while others welcomed the rebate proposal.

President Donald Trump's proposed tariff rebate checks may have a bumpy road to becoming a reality.

Over the weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump’s proposed $2,000 tariff “dividend” check would require congressional approval. However, a key member of the House of Representatives said there would be a “robust debate” over what to do with the tariff revenue.

Why This Matters to You

The plan could inject billions into household budgets or help reduce the federal deficit, depending on how Congress decides to use tariff revenues.

Legislators Want to Know How Much Money Tariffs Raise

In a social media post last week, Trump floated the idea of a $2,000 “dividend” check for Americans to be paid for by revenue from the sweeping tariffs he’s instituted this year. 

However, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a televised interview on Sunday that legislators want to gain a better understanding of how much money the tariffs are generating. Before the government shutdown, the Treasury Department reported $95 billion in new tariff revenue through August.

With Trump negotiating new agreements that lower tariff rates, Scalise also said the revenue from tariffs may not be sustainable in the long term.

While new tariffs have generated a significant amount of revenue, it’s unclear whether it will be enough to fully cover Trump’s $2,000 check proposal, which Bessent said could be limited to families making $100,000 or less.

Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, has said that tariff revenues in 2026 are expected to total approximately $217 billion. Trump’s tariff rebate proposal could cost around $300 billion. 

Debt Levels May Stifle Tariff Rebate Check Debate

Other members of Congress have said the revenue from tariffs would be better spent paying down the country's debt.

“We’re $36, $37 trillion in debt. To me, I think our bus is full. If you want to add something, then take something off the bus,” Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke told Politico.

Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt said on Sunday that a tariff rebate check would be one way to pass on the benefits of Trump’s tariff policies to taxpayers. 

“I certainly hope that that’s something Congress takes a look at, and definitely I think that it would be something that the American people receive well,” Britt said when asked about the rebate plan in a televised interview over the weekend.

She’s not the only senator behind the idea of issuing a rebate from tariff revenue. Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley introduced legislation in July that would provide a $600 tariff rebate for each adult taxpayer and their dependents. The Senate so far hasn’t acted on Hawley’s “American Worker Rebate Act of 2025.”

Scalise said that paying down the country's debt could also benefit taxpayers.

“Reducing the deficit lowers interest rates, it lowers inflation," Scalise said. "No longer borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars, in this case, would actually be good for the entire economy and put more money in the pockets of people who are struggling, in terms of lower inflation and lower interest rates.”

David Paul Morris / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Shares of Google parent Alphabet have posted the biggest gains so far in 2025 among members of the Magnificent Seven group of major tech stocks.

Key Takeaways

• Alphabet stock rose on Monday after Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by Warren Buffett, revealed it took a stake worth nearly $5 billion in the Google parent last quarter.
• Alphabet stock is up about 50% since the start of the year, making it an unusual purchase for value-focused Berkshire.
• The majority of Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Alphabet's stock, with many raising their price targets after its better-than-expected earnings report last month.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is making a big bet on one of the hottest tech stocks.

Berkshire (BRK.A)(BRK.B) purchased 17.8 million shares of Alphabet’s Class A stock (GOOGL) in the third quarter, according to a regulatory filing made public on Friday evening. A stake of that size in the Google parent would be worth nearly $5 billion as of Monday's close.

Shares of Alphabet jumped on Monday, as is often the case when Berkshire makes a multibillion-dollar investment. Alphabet stock rose more than 3%, while the majority of its big tech peers declined.

Why This News Is Significant

Berkshire Hathaway is known for investing in companies with slow-and-steady businesses and, in the firm's opinion, undervalued stocks, making its Alphabet purchase a relatively unusual one.

Berkshire's Rare Tech Bet

Alphabet is an unusual purchase for Berkshire, which tends to buy unloved stocks with the intention of holding them long term. 

Alphabet, meanwhile, is far from unloved. It's a member of the Magnificent Seven, the high-flying tech stocks whose valuations have spooked investors of late. Alphabet stock is up 50% since the start of the year. All of those gains came after mid-July, when the stock finally recovered from the broad market downturn that was fueled by concerns about tariffs.

TradingView

Alphabet is handily outpacing its Magnificent Seven peers this year.

Alphabet isn’t the only Mag 7 stock in Berkshire’s portfolio. Apple (AAPL) is the conglomerate’s largest stock holding, worth about $65 billion. But it first bought Apple stock in 2016 and has been trimming that position for the past two years. Berkshire sold about 15% of its stake in the iPhone maker last quarter. 

What Wall Street Thinks of Alphabet

Analysts are generally bullish on Alphabet stock. 

JPMorgan analysts raised their price target by 13% after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter results late last month. The analysts called the report “strong across the board,” and noted Alphabet was showing “signs that AI search is more opportunity than threat,” contrary to Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts at Wedbush also raised their price target, and argued the quarter "validates Alphabet's position as a leading AI beneficiary."

Alphabet also raised its full-year capital expenditures guidance last month. It expects to invest more than $90 billion in capital equipment this year, with much of that going toward building data centers and filling them with chips to train and run AI models. Investors have recently grown wary of tech's AI spending, with some wondering when they'll see a return on their investments, if at all.

Regardless, 11 of the 14 analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha rate shares a “buy,” and the remainder recommend holding the stock. Their average price target of $324 is about 14% above the stock’s closing price on Monday. 

CORRECT: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Berkshire Hathaway.

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A shopper compares beef prices at a grocery store.

Key Takeaways

• Beef prices are up nearly 15% year-over-year, as top U.S. beef importers from Australia, New Zealand and Brazil face higher tariffs.
• Beef producers say the problem is bigger than tariffs; the U.S. cattle herd is at its smallest level in 75 years, and ranchers face higher costs. 
• The Trump administration has raised tariff quotas on Argentine beef imports in an effort to help stem the price hikes.

Move over eggs: Soaring beef prices are the latest talking point when it comes to expensive groceries.

As food prices surge, President Donald Trump moved on Friday to reduce tariffs on a number of agricultural products, including beef.

Why This Matters to You

Beef is an important staple in the American diet and higher prices can put strains on Americans’ grocery costs, which have continued to rise as tariff costs have impacted prices.

Indeed, prices for beef have climbed substantially over the past year. Inflation data from September showed that beef was almost 15% more expensive when compared with the same month last year.

Tariffs on imported beef, along with import taxes on imported fertilizers and metals used by domestic ranchers, have contributed to higher beef costs, though experts said other factors are also helping push U.S. meat prices higher.

Beef Importers And Tariffs

The U.S. is the world's largest beef producer, but it's also the world’s biggest beef importer, according to the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association. And while tariffs on imported beef are impacting prices, U.S. ranchers pointed to larger issues contributing to the rise in beef prices.

“Today’s beef prices are not the byproduct of runaway inflation or market manipulation—they are the result of years of industry contraction, a 75-year low in the national cow herd, and steep increases in ranchers’ input costs,” the Cattlemen’s Association wrote to Trump in a letter that opposed a proposal to increase Argentinian beef imports.

Australia, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and New Zealand are the leading beef importers to the U.S., according to the Cattlemen’s Association. 

The Trump administration had slapped a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports, which were likely contributing to higher beef import prices, while Australia had faced a 10% tariff that included U.S. beef exports and New Zealand was hit with a 15% tariff. These were all rolled back by Trump's executive order on Friday.

The higher tariffs Trump applied to Canadian and Mexican imports didn't include beef, which is covered under the USMCA trade agreement.

Higher beef prices have come alongside rising costs for other grocery store staples, including a 19% increase in coffee prices and a 7% rise in banana prices. Meanwhile, the price of eggs has fallen by 1.5% year-over-year after the cost of that grocery item became a campaign issue.

Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bitcoin recently traded below $92,000 for the first time in months.

Key Takeaways

• The price of the world's largest cryptocurrency recently traded below $92,000 for the first time in months.
• At least one backer is still buying in: Strategy said it bought an additional 8,178 bitcoin at an average purchase price of around $102,000.

Bitcoin has gone to the bears. At least one bull is hanging on.

The world's best-known and most-valuable cryptocurrency recently changed hands below $92,000 apiece, with recent prices representing a more-than-25% retreat from the record highs of over $126,000 seen last month. That has the coin in what's sometimes called a bear market, or a drop of at least 20% from a recent high.

What was supposed to be a banner year for crypto and its biggest coin in market cap terms is looking like a bust. Between a friendlier crypto president in the White House, a less enforcement-minded chairman at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and stablecoin legislation signed into law, all the pieces were in place to drive prices to the moon, as the bullish saying goes.

Why This Matters to Investors

Bitcoin is a volatile holding, which investors tend not to worry about when it rises. More recently it has fallen into bear market territory, dropping precipitously from October record highs as investors have grown more wary about risk assets.

But things have gone the other way. The crypto industry in October suffered its biggest liquidation event in history as more than $19 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out, kickstarting a slide that has pulled bitcoin into the red for the year.

Last week, investors were looking to Strategy (MSTR) and evangelist Michael Saylor for a sign of where things were headed. Saylor was characteristically sanguine, as he always is, and promised to have good news. And the company delivered, revealing on Monday that it bought an additional 8,178 bitcoin at an average price of $102,171, or a little over $835 million all in, between Nov. 10 and Nov. 16.

That brings its total stockpile to 649,870 coins, valued at just under $60 billion at current prices. The purchases were funded using the proceeds of its preferred stock offerings.

That said, individuals own the biggest slice of the bitcoin ownership pie, at about two thirds. Their trades collectively have a bigger impact than funds and ETFs', which own about 8%, and businesses, the category to which Strategy belongs, with 6%.

Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images

Stocks fell Monday, which may have some thinking that things aren't looking up in markets these days.

Key Takeaways

• Veteran bond investor Jeff Gundlach today listed a range of ways today's markets break with convention, saying investors should have a maximum of 40% of their portfolios in stocks.
• But not everyone's bearish today. The "potency of the AI narrative" is making this market look like the dotcom boom, according to BCA Research's Doug Peta.

Many investors have taken a glass-half-full view of markets lately. But others see the glass as cracked.

On Monday, as stocks dropped to start a busy week, it seemed the latter group had a firmer hold on the microphone. The VIX, Wall Street's so-called fear index, was recently around 23, creeping further into the territory associated with worry. CNN's worry measure recently pointed toward "Extreme Fear."

Veteran bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach now says almost all financial assets look overvalued—and he observes atypical relationships across asset classes. Private credit defaults are being compared to cockroaches-in-hiding, and AI-stock valuations to the dotcom bubble—even though Nvidia's (NVDA) earnings, which could give stocks a shot in the arm, are just days away.

Some investors are cutting their equity exposure. A Deutsche Bank report showed that discretionary investors were underweight stocks again, moving to the bottom of the positioning range that has been in place since the early 2025 tariff tantrum. Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund in the third quarter cut its positions in U.S. stocks, according to the Financial Times.

Why This Matters to Investors

Some cautious investors have fixated on AI hype and tech-stock valuations as reasons to be worried. But there are plenty of other issues that warrant a rethink of conventional asset allocation, according to market watchers who think the market doesn't feel "healthy" at present.

The U.S. stock market feels the "least healthy" it has been in decades, across classic valuation metrics including price-to-earnings and the CAPE ratios, Gundlach said in the most recent episode of Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast. Gundlach said investors should eschew the 60/40 portfolio and have no more than 40% in equities, with most of that outside of the U.S.; 25% in bonds; 15% in gold (prior to the precious metal's rally, he said 25% was ideal); and the rest in cash.

This market, per Gundlach, is unlike those of the past. For example, he said, short- and long-term treasury rates have historically declined when the Fed moves to cut its benchmark rate, but outside of the two-year bonds, yields are higher than they were before the first cut. Meanwhile, he said, the U.S. dollar has climbed as stocks declined in the past 12 S&P 500 corrections since 2000, but in March and April the dollar swooned alongside equity markets.

"What's the 'flight to quality' asset, and what isn't, seems to have changed," Gundlach said.

Not everyone is bearish. Fundstrat Global, the financial services firm led by Tom Lee, attributes the choppiness in markets to self-fulfilling narratives driven by media outlets, and neither the shop's head of data science nor the head of technical strategy agree that there is an AI bubble. A December catch-up rally could be possible, they said.

BCA's chief U.S. investment strategist Doug Peta is on the fence, but said the "potency of the AI narrative is making this one look increasingly like the dotcom boom." Still, he said, there are worrying signals: That the S&P 500's earnings growth laggards—companies that sell discretionary goods, appliances, for example are in economically exposed and consumer-facing subindustries could be a "sign that the expansion is less robust than widely perceived," he said.

"It does not inspire confidence when the most cyclical companies' earnings growth lags the overall market's by 20 percentage points," Peta wrote in a report on Monday that recalled the S&P 500's last closing high, on Oct. 28.

"We don't yet know how much longer the current bull market will last," he said." or if it already ended" that day.

Investopedia / Photo Illustration by Alice Morgan / Getty Images

More Americans spend 95% of their income on basic necessities in 2025.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• With inflation rates outpacing wage growth, households are spending a larger share of their income on necessities.
• In particular, more households in the Northeast and Midwest are living paycheck to paycheck.
• However, this trend may not last forever, as consumers in the South and West are facing similar, if not higher, inflation growth compared to other areas.

More families are living paycheck to paycheck as inflation continues to rise nationwide, but some regions are experiencing higher cost increases than others.

Living paycheck to paycheck means that a household spends more than 95% of its income on necessities, according to Bank of America. In the third quarter of 2025, nearly a quarter of American households were living paycheck to paycheck, with consumers in the Northeast and Midwest struggling the most, according to a recent report from the bank.

In September, inflation increased by 3% over the year, the highest 12-month inflation rate since January, according to the Consumer Price Index. Yet in October, wages had only increased by 2% for middle-income households, and by 1% for lower-income families, according to Bank of America deposit data.

With the cost of living increasing faster than paychecks, the number of Americans living paycheck to paycheck this year was 0.3 percentage points higher than last year. The growth rate was nearly three times that amount in 2024—meaning the growth has slowed significantly in the past year.

Why This Is Significant

Affordability is a significant problem for many Americans, as recent inflation rates, partly driven by tariffs, have driven costs higher and affected household budgets. When fewer consumers can afford discretionary items, it reduces overall spending, leading to further negative effects on the economy.

Where Inflation Is Hurting Households The Most

The percentage of households in the Northeast and Midwest living paycheck to paycheck increased from the third quarter of 2025 compared to the same time last year. Meanwhile, the share of households going paycheck to paycheck in the South and West decreased, according to Bank of America data.

This is likely a result of lower inflation in the South and West during 2024, which eased financial stress on these households, allowing their income to go further, the bank said.

Inflation Patterns Could Shift

However, researchers at Bank of America expect consumers in the South and West will soon face the same financial pressures.

Prices in the West increased by 3.3% in September compared to the same time last year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the same area, year-over-year CPI in September 2024 had only grown by 2.1%.

The growth of inflation rates in the Midwest also increased modestly, but in the Northeast, which includes New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, the inflation rate was actually lower in 2025 than it was in 2024.

If the cost of living for consumers does level out, that could in turn affect the number of households living paycheck to paycheck.

Sean Gallup / Getty Images

Google parent Alphabet was the S&P 500's top performer Monday

Key Takeaways

• Concerns about memory chip prices weighed on a PC maker on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, while a tech giant got a boost after a high-profile investor revealed a new stake.
• Shares of Dell dropped after Morgan Stanley suggested that surging prices for memory components could pressure the hardware maker's margins.
• Alphabet shares gained ground after Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a new position in the Google parent.

A PC manufacturer came under pressure Monday after an analyst warned of margin headwinds from rising memory chip prices. Meanwhile, shares of a large tech firm advanced after a high-profile investor disclosed a stake.

Major U.S. equities indexes declined as the new trading week kicked off, ahead of earnings reports from artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) and several major retailers due over the coming days. The Nasdaq fell 0.8%, the S&P 500 slid 0.9%, and the Dow dropped 1.2%. For more from Investopedia on the day's markets news, see here.

Several computer hardware manufacturers faced pressure Monday after Morgan Stanley analysts said surging prices for memory components could weigh on gross margins. Dell Technologies (DELL) shares dropped over 8% after the investment firm double-downgraded the PC and server maker's stock to "underweight" from "overweight." Morgan Stanley also downgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) stock to "underweight" from "equal weight," and shares of the computer and printer specialist sank 7%.

The price of Bitcoin (BTCUSD) extended its recent losing streak, declining to its lowest level since April. Shares of Coinbase Global (COIN), owner of the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, lost about 7%.

Shares of Generac Holdings (GNRC), a provider of standby power generation equipment, also declined around 7%. The stock has been trending lower since Oct. 29, when Generac posted weaker-than-expected results for the third quarter. The company noted that a decline in power outages weighed on sales of its residential generators during the period.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) jumped 3% to lead gains on the S&P 500 after a regulatory filing revealed Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) snapped up a new stake in the tech giant. In addition, Alphabet's YouTube TV reached an agreement with Walt Disney Co. (DIS), bringing an end to a carriage dispute that had resulted in the removal of ESPN and other Disney properties from the streaming service for several weeks.

Google also launched AI-enabled travel tools designed to help users build customized itineraries, integrating flight and hotel searches along with other services like event bookings and restaurant reservations. Operators of competing online travel booking platforms slid, with Expedia Group (EXPE) stock losing nearly 8%. Shares of Booking Holdings (BKNG) and Tripadvisor (TRIP) also moved lower.