Investopedia Markets News (all except PF)

Traders will get a break to end the week.

U.S. stock and bond markets will close on Friday, June 19, in observation of Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. The pause in trading, days after the Wednesday close of this month's Fed meeting, will mark the last extra day off until Independence Day.

Here's the rest of the summer 2026 trading holiday schedule:

• Stock and bond markets will close on Friday, July 3, in observation of Independence Day. Bond markets will close early, at 2 p.m. ET, on Thursday, July 2.
• Stock and bond markets will close on Monday, September 7, in observation of Labor Day.

After Labor Day, the next stock-market holiday coincides with Thanksgiving. The bond market, however, does have breaks before that.

• Entry-level jobs exposed to AI are increasingly requiring senior-level skills such as judgment and leadership.
• AI-exposed roles are growing faster and paying higher wages, but early-career hiring is declining.
• Companies using AI are adding workers and boosting productivity, but entry-level opportunities are shrinking.

The jobs AI was supposed to make easier for beginners are, instead, often asking them to act like seasoned pros from day one.

That's the upshot of a new report from PwC, which analyzed more than a billion job ads in 27 countries, including 2.4 million entry-level roles in the U.S. The jobs most exposed to AI are now seven times as likely to demand senior-level skills as the least AI-exposed entry-level roles, according to the report.

AI-exposed entry-level roles that added those higher-level requirements grew 35% from 2019 to 2025. Comparable roles that didn't shrank 10%.

AI is changing what employers pay for and what they expect. Whether you're entering the job market or have long been in it, the line between an "entry-level" and a "senior" role could be blurring—and what counts as a valuable skill is being redrawn.

PwC describes a "two-track" labor market. On one side sit "professionalized" roles—radiologists or recruiters—where AI clears the routine work so humans handle the judgment. They're about 22% of advertised jobs. In "democratized" roles, like IT service management, AI makes the job easier for nonexperts, and such roles account for roughly 52% of ads.

The professionalized track is coming out ahead. Those roles are growing twice as fast as the "democratized" ones and have posted 42% faster wage growth since 2021.

Meanwhile, the most AI-exposed jobs are piling on human-intensive tasks—empathy, judgment, creativity—at 2.5 times the rate of the least exposed.

These are often the same well-paid, well-educated roles a separate Anthropic study flagged as the most exposed to AI. Taken together, the PwC and Anthropic studies show that exposure to AI doesn't mean a job will be automated out of existence. Instead, it hands routine work to AI and frees the worker for the parts that demand empathy and judgment.

The companies best positioned to use AI are adding workers, not replacing them. Jobs at the most AI-exposed firms grew 52% since 2018, compared with 36% at the least-exposed firms, and wages rose 24% versus 17%.

Getting in the door at all has become harder. PwC itself plans to cut U.S. entry-level hiring by about a third over three years and has trimmed the number of offices where new consultants can work from 72 to 13.

It's part of a broader trend. In a break from historical patterns, recent U.S. college graduates are likelier to be unemployed than the average worker, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports.

"AI is removing some of the routine work that once acted as an apprenticeship," Pete Brown, PwC's global workforce leader, said in a release.

• Barclays says it's "time to add exposure" to gold as investors see a chance for a resolution to the U.S.-Iran conflict.
• Citi analysts said there's a 60% chance that a formal peace deal between the U.S. and Iran will be signed this week; they boosted their near-term price forecast on gold by $500 to $4,500.

Wall Street analysts are taking a shine to gold.

They're doing so after a blazing hot run lost steam. Gold futures prices are flat in 2026, recently trading around $4,300 after sliding from record highs of almost $5,600. (Silver, another big 2025 gainer that has retreated, recently traded around $69, well off highs near $122.) While some on the Street were just last week warning of near-term risk, there are now calls for a recovery as investors eye the possibility that hostilities in the Middle East could ease—or cease.

Gold was among the best-performing major asset classes in 2025, rising more than 65% and outpacing U.S. stocks' more-than-15% gain.

A potential peace deal, set to be signed by the U.S. and Iran on Friday, has inspired analysts to recalibrate their bearish stances on gold. Citi Research, for example, cut its three-month outlook on gold last week, then yesterday boosted its price target by $500 to $4,500 per troy ounce because movement toward peace "is a big deal" that sets the stage for higher metals prices. It also upgraded its short-term view on silver, saying prices could rise to $70, from $60 previously.

To be sure, gold's furious rally last year transformed it into something of a momentum trade—one that was interrupted by the conflict in Iran. As oil stopped flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, some countries' central banks sold the precious metal for liquidity reasons. An ending of the conflict could relieve those pressures.

"We had been concerned about a gold and silver sell-off near-term owing to the ongoing conflict," Max Layton, Citi's global head of commodities research, and his team wrote in a Monday report.

Barclays' cross-asset research team said in a Monday report that now was the "time to add exposure" to the yellow metal. "Gold's correction looks more like a reset than the end of the story, and we look for a rebound ahead," Barclays FX Strategist Lefteris Farmakis and his team said.

Citi's now higher near-term price targets for both gold and silver suggest little upside, or about 1% to 5%. Its six-to-12-month forecast of $5,000, however, implies a 16% rise from recent levels.

• Shares of SpaceX continued to climb Tuesday, topping $200 per share for the first time.
• The stock reached levels approaching those that would give it a market capitalization of $3 trillion.

SpaceX stock continued its post-IPO climb Tuesday, with the stock rising above $200 per share for the first time.

Shares of SpaceX (SPCX) finished nearly 5% higher in the company's third session on public markets; yesterday, they rose some 20%. Recent prices marked a pullback from morning highs above $225, which at those levels had the company's market capitalization in the neighborhood of $3 trillion—a level that took Apple, the first company to see its market value reach that milestone, more than four decades to accomplish.

Shares of SpaceX have wavered at times in their early days as publicly traded assets, but they've mostly climbed—and current prices have them as one of the five most-valuable U.S. companies after less than three full days on the stock market.

There was also news on the corporate front at Elon Musk's space exploration and AI company, which confirmed it would go through with a proposed acquisition of AI coding agent Cursor. SpaceX disclosed in April that it had secured the right to buy Cursor for $60 billion at some point this year, or pay the company $10 billion for their work together training models with SpaceX's Colossus GPU cluster, and it on Tuesday said Cursor shareholders would receive SpaceX stock of equal value when the deal closes, which is expected in the third quarter. The deal was delayed until after SpaceX's blockbuster IPO last Friday, in which it raised a record $75 billion. 

Cursor will build on SpaceX's efforts to keep up with competitors like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Alphabet (GOOG) in the race to develop the most capable AI. Musk merged SpaceX and his AI start-up xAI, home to social media platform X and chatbot Grok, in February. SpaceX's AI lags its biggest competitors in capabilities, a gap that the Cursor merger could narrow. 

Coding agents have emerged as one of the most valuable AI-powered products in the past year. The success of Anthropic's Claude Code has turbocharged its revenue growth since late last year, prompting OpenAI to shift its focus from consumer tools like ChatGPT to business tools like its coding agent Codex. Both Anthropic and ChatGPT could themselves go public this year at valuations potentially surpassing $1 trillion.

SpaceX shares ended Tuesday around $202, nearly 50% above their $135 IPO price. Tuesday's gains at one time valued it as America's fifth-most valuable company, ahead of retail giant Amazon (AMZN) and not far off Microsoft (MSFT).

This article has been updated since it was first published to reflect the close of trading.

• Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is expected to keep interest rates steady at his first meeting, with the benchmark rate likely remaining between 3.5% and 3.75%.
• Analysts are watching for Warsh's stance on inflation, future rate hikes, and his potential shift away from forward guidance.
• Warsh's approach to press conferences and communication could signal a shift in how the Fed interacts with markets and the public.

As brand-new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh starts his first meeting, analysts are as curious as ever for hints on where he may take the central bank.

For now, the Fed is likely to keep things steady. Officials are widely expected to keep their benchmark interest rate at 3.5% to 3.75% in their 2 p.m. ET decision on Wednesday. The Warsh-led communications overhaul is unlikely to fully take shape just yet, nor is his plan to slim down the Fed's balance sheet.

Analysts, however, will closely watch for clues on Warsh's plans for "regime change" at his 2:30 p.m. ET press conference. It'll be the first time Warsh addresses reporters as Fed chair—and it could catch markets off-guard.

"We expect Chair Warsh to attempt to minimize surprises and market disruptions as he attempts to establish his credibility as the new FOMC chair," Barclays Chief U.S. Economist Marc Giannoni wrote in a note to clients. "However, we think there is considerable uncertainty about his answers to questions as he hones his messaging."

The Federal Reserve’s next moves affect borrowing costs, mortgages, investments, and economic growth. Warsh’s first meeting could offer important clues about how monetary policy may evolve in the months ahead.

Warsh will have to "walk a fine line" at his press conference, according to Michael Gregory, BMO's deputy chief economist. He'll be queried about his vision for the Fed while portraying potentially differing views from the 18 other members on the Federal Open Market Committee.

"The June meeting will mark the start of Warsh's efforts to effect change at the Fed," Gregory wrote. "And it is going to be much more of an evolutionary process than a revolutionary one."

The press conference will be "must-see TV," Gregory wrote. But how many episodes the public will get is one of the biggest questions on Wednesday.

At his Senate confirmation hearing, Warsh declined to commit to hosting a press conference after each Fed meeting. His predecessor, Jerome Powell, chose that cadence early in his tenure rather than the prior standard of every other Fed meeting.

Warsh, who has long argued the Fed overcommunicates, told senators in April that a press conference is only necessary when there's something important to say.

But for a Fed chair that President Donald Trump has said is out of "central casting," going on TV more frequently may come with the territory, wrote James Egelhof, chief U.S. economist at BNP Paribas.

"A necessary implication of being chosen from 'central casting' is an expectation to perform in the show, we think," Egelhof wrote. "As a result, we believe Warsh will continue to appear at meeting-by-meeting press conferences."

But Warsh may be more concise than Powell and "answer questions with relative terseness," Egelhof wrote.

"The conference might move much more quickly, take much less time, and seem more controlled and less informative than was the case under Powell," Egelhof wrote.

One big question is how Warsh sees the economic outlook—and whether he leans hawkish, dovish, or somewhere in between.

Given his focus on big-picture Fed reforms, Warsh’s thoughts on where rates should go and why are a “big black box that we’re going to start to open up” at this week’s meeting, Ed Al-Hussainy, global rates strategist and portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said on a webinar with reporters.

Warsh may not give markets much. He’s argued against "forward guidance," saying the Fed can tie its hands when it shares its views on the path ahead.

But reporters will likely try to pin him down nonetheless. With inflation now around 4%, or double the Fed's target, several central bankers are talking about eventually hiking rates.

Warsh may take a "middle-of-the-road approach" as he tries to build consensus, wrote Oscar Muñoz, chief U.S. macro strategist at TD Securities.

Aditya Bhave, a senior U.S. economist at Bank of America, expects Warsh to lean dovish, even if he concedes that cutting rates soon isn't possible. Warsh will likely "make a case for patience and note that there could be room for cuts later this year, once the Iran conflict has been resolved," Bhave wrote.

"If we're wrong and Warsh concedes that inflation is becoming problematic, markets will become more strident about pricing in hikes," Bhave added.

Analysts are just as curious about how hawkish the 19-member FOMC may be on Wednesday, especially the 12 who vote this year.

Powell's last meeting got three hawkish dissents, with those members agreeing to keep rates flat but raising concerns over the statement suggesting "additional" rate cuts were likely at some point.

That so-called easing bias—the type of forward guidance that Warsh is skeptical about—may finally be put to rest. Removing it could lead to a unanimous decision in Warsh's first meeting, all while sending the message that rates are just as likely to go up or down.

"We don't expect any dissents," BofA's Bhave wrote. "The hawks who dissented in April should be satisfied with the removal of the easing bias. None of them have called for immediate hikes."

More of them, however, may choose to project a rate hike later this year. They would do so through the "dot plot," a set of forecasts that Warsh has also criticized but may not yet abandon.

The quarterly dot plot was last released in mid-March, when Fed officials had little sense of how long the Iran war might last. At the time, the median Fed official still penciled in one rate cut in 2026.

Now, the dot plot may "convey a clear hawkish message," TD Securities' Muñoz wrote, with Fed officials' dots likely drifting higher in 2026 as they back off earlier rate cut forecasts. The drift upward is unlikely to be enough for the Fed to pencil in a rate hike, he wrote, though markets will be attuned to the risk of "an outsized number" of Fed officials eyeing a hike.

The other big question analysts are watching: will Warsh, a dot plot skeptic, prepare economic projections himself?

Fed officials have long considered changes to their Summary of Economic Projections, including the dot plot, because markets can sometimes misinterpret its message. But they've kept it as-is since they haven't agreed on a better system.

Warsh would "risk antagonizing most of his colleagues" if he pushes to get rid of it entirely at his first meeting, BofA's Bhave wrote. But he may opt for "the path of least resistance" and decline to share his own forecast.

"This could be a 'win-win' for Warsh—he could undermine the SEP without potentially upsetting the rest of the committee by abolishing it," Bhave wrote.

News of the day for June 16, 2026

Stock futures are ticking higher as the market looks to add to the big gains posted on Monday following news of an Iran peace deal; SpaceX shares are poised to climb for the another session after the company's record-setting Friday IPO; the Fed will kick off its two-day meeting on interest rates; world leaders are meeting in France, with discussions focused on the next steps in securing peace in the Middle East; and GM is reportedly in talks to supply Lockheed Martin with parts for weapons. Here's what you need to know today.

Stock futures are slightly higher this morning after major indexes soared to start the week following news of a deal to end the Iran war. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were up 0.2% recently, while S&P 500 futures added 0.1%. The Nasdaq surged 3% yesterday, led by huge gains for chip stocks, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.7% and the Dow rose nearly 500 points to a record closing high. WTI crude oil futures, the U.S. benchmark, were down nearly 3% to $78.50 per barrel, adding to the previous session's declines amid hopes that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen with the peace agreement. Gold futures were up 0.4% at $4,370 an ounce, while bitcoin was holding steady at $66,500. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects interest rates on loans, fell to a one-month low of 4.44%, from 4.48% at yesterday's close.

SpaceX stock (SPCX) is on track to post big gains for the third straight session since carrying out the biggest IPO ever. Shares of Elon Musk's rocket, connectivity and AI company were up roughly 10% ahead of Tuesday's opening bell, after jumping 20% yesterday. SpaceX on Tuesday announced the acquisition of Anysphere, the parent company of AI coding agent Cursor, for $60 billion. SpaceX, which owns the Grok chatbot through its xAI business, had announced in April that it was working with Cursor and had the right to purchase the startup later in the year. SpaceX, which through yesterday's close had a market capitalization of $2.5 trillion, is on track to overtake Amazon (AMZN), with a market cap of $2.6 trillion, at number five on the list of the most valuable companies in the U.S.

The Federal Reserve's policy committee is scheduled to begin a two-day meeting Tuesday, with new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh presiding for the first time. Warsh, who took over the top spot after Jerome Powell's term as chair expired last month, faces the challenge of controlling inflation, which hit a three-year high in May amid surging fuel prices stemming from the Iran war. The Fed is widely expected to leave its benchmark rate unchanged at this week's meeting, but market participants are pricing in the likelihood that the central bank will need to raise rates later in the year. The Fed's decision is scheduled to be released Wednesday afternoon, along with quarterly economic projections from policy committee members. Investors will be particularly eager to hear what Warsh has to say at the post-meeting press conference.

President Donald Trump is in France for the Group of Seven meeting of world leaders, with discussions focused on the next steps in securing peace in the Middle East. French President Emmanuel Macron told Trump in a meeting Monday that European forces are prepared to deploy in the Strait of Hormuz as part of an effort to ensure oil supplies can start flowing again. While the Iran peace deal announced by Trump over the weekend sent stocks soaring and oil prices plunging, investor uncertainty is still running high as details of the agreement aren't known yet. A formal signing ceremony is set for Friday in Switzerland.

General Motors (GM) and Lockheed Martin (LMT) are in discussions about a deal in which the automaker would make parts for weapons produced by the defense contractor, The Wall Street Journal reported. The agreement, which the Journal said could be announced as soon as today, would boost Lockheed's efforts to produce weapons that are in short supply owing to the wars in Iran and Ukraine. The Trump administration has reportedly pushed defense contractors to increase production and has sought to encourage other manufacturers to participate in the effort. GM CEO Mary Barra has met with administration officials as the company looks to grow its defense business, the Journal reported. GM shares were up less than 1% in premarket trading, while Lockheed stock was little-changed.

• The spike in energy prices from the Iran war could take months to fade even if the latest peace agreement holds, economists said.
• High oil prices have pushed up gasoline prices and contributed to a surge in U.S. inflation in recent months.

The biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history could be coming to an end, but prices that shot up during the Iran war could be slow to come back down, experts said Monday.

A reported preliminary peace deal to end the war between the U.S., Iran, and Israel on Sunday sparked optimism in financial markets on Monday. But even if everything goes smoothly, the relief may take months to filter down to everyday prices, and it is unclear if they would ever fall to pre-war price levels.

The outcome hinges on the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway between Iran and Oman, which, in normal times, carries 20% of the world's oil supply to global markets from the Persian Gulf. The closure of the strait has pushed up oil prices, contributing to a spike in gasoline prices and overall inflation in the U.S. in recent months.

Both sides have reportedly agreed to allow commercial traffic to resume through the strait, potentially relieving pressure. President Donald Trump said the strait would be officially open on Friday, and on Monday, he said some vessels were already going through.

"Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz," Trump posted on social media.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz would set the stage for further reduction in oil prices, which would trickle through to gasoline and other products, but getting back to the prewar baseline isn't guaranteed, experts said.

However, despite oil prices falling, they were still well above their prewar norm, and the snarled supply chains could take months to untangle, economists said.

"The strait is the alpha and the omega of the conflict from the oil market’s perspective," Chris Lafakis, an economist at Moody's Analytics, wrote in a commentary. "Its closure was unsustainable, and the strait was the largest source of political and economic pain for both the U.S. and Iran."

As of Monday, a barrel of crude oil by the Brent international benchmark was $83, well below its $118 peak at the height of hostilities, but up from about $60 at the beginning of the year. A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline averaged $4.07 nationwide Monday, according to AAA, down from its recent peak of $4.56 but above the $2.98 national average before the war.

Prices have fallen for the past three weeks amid optimism about the strait possibly reopening, and that trend will likely continue, Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, wrote in a commentary.

"The real test now shifts to the Strait of Hormuz, where any reopening and resumption of normal oil flows would be the clearest signal that this relief is durable," he wrote. "For now, the national average could continue falling, provided there isn’t a drastic reversal and the U.S. and Iran continue moving in a positive direction.”

However, progress toward reopening the trade route was uncertain, and forecasters expected oil prices to remain elevated for months to come. Major questions include whether the preliminary deal would go through, whether the cease-fire would hold, and whether ship captains would brave the journey.

BIMCO, a Copenhagen-based trade group representing ship owners, said there was no indication the announcement of an agreement had actually changed anything so far.

“The statements by the U.S. and Iran are currently unclear and do not offer sufficient information regarding key aspects such as timings and safe routes," Jakob Larsen, Chief Safety & Security Officer at BIMCO, said in a statement. “Due to lack of details and a history of overly optimistic reassurances, we believe the security situation for the shipping industry remains volatile, and we still consider it very risky for ships to commence transits at this point."

For months, economists have warned the economic damage from the war will persist even if the strait fully reopens.

Several other factors are likely to keep oil prices higher for months or years to come, Lafakis wrote. Energy facilities damaged in the war must be repaired. Countries that depleted their oil reserves to get through the crisis will buy more oil to replenish their stockpiles, keeping prices higher for longer. And after that, there will be a permanent "risk premium" because travel through the strait will be considered more dangerous than before the war.

All that means Brent crude will likely average $89 a barrel in 2026, and $76 a barrel into 2027, Lafakis wrote.

The price of oil has a major impact on inflation and the U.S. economy. Every $10 increase in the oil price pushes up inflation by 0.2 percentage points and drags down GDP growth by 0.1 percentage point, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in 2022, citing Fed research. That means the economy and consumers are likely to feel the impact of the war as long as those prices stay elevated.

"No relief is in sight for the foreseeable future," Joachim Nagel, an official at the European Central Bank and president of Germany's Bundesbank, ​said in a speech Monday, as reported by news outlets. "On the contrary: even if the Strait of Hormuz were to become ‌navigable ⁠again soon, it will take months for the oil supply to return to normal."

Episode 299 of the Investopedia Express podcast with Caleb Silver (June 15, 2026)

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Last week SpaceX completed the largest IPO in history, valuing Elon Musk's space exploration company at more than $2 trillion, and making him the world's first trillionaire. It also paves the way for Anthropic and OpenAI, the next trillion-dollar companies to test the public markets, ushering in a new wave of massive public companies built on the dream of productivity through artificial intelligence. Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson helps us separate the dreams from the realities of how the AI economy will play out over the next decade, and which companies will survive and thrive. Plus, the World Cup kicked off billions of dollars of spending and marketing throughout North America. The Express goes inside the lines of the biggest revenue-generating sporting event in history.

• "2X SPCX" sounds like an enticing proposition until the effects of compounding produce wonky returns.
• Leveraged ETFs can be useful, but knowing how they work can help investors avoid unintended consequences of buying and holding them.

Amplifying SpaceX's share-price moves might sound like a sure way to juice returns. It's not quite that simple.

Nearly a dozen exchange-traded funds that promise to deliver "2X," or twice, the daily returns of SpaceX (SPCX) launched Monday, per Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. The idea is simple enough: Since the stock rose about 20% today, the ETFs would be up 40%. They, like other popular leveraged funds, borrow to enhance their performance—or they use derivatives, such as futures or options contracts or swaps, to deliver souped-up results. And they have a reputation for being "dangerous"—mainly because investors who use them incautiously can meet with undesirable consequences.

There are three main things to keep in mind about leveraged ETFs, whether they reference SpaceX or some other stock or asset—the multiplier effect means both magnified gains and magnified losses; they experience a mathematical phenomenon that drags down performance over time; and they tend to have higher fees and expenses, which eat into returns.

Certain financial terms have negative associations—like "leverage," which generally refers to using borrowed money to amplify results. Leveraged ETFs, like those that have recently popped up on the back of the SpaceX IPO, can supercharge gains, but only for investors who are both careful and fortunate.

The first point is fairly straightforward: When an ETF promises "2X" daily returns, it means gains and losses. So if an ETF's reference asset falls 10%, the ETF's losses can hit 20%. When something is moving in the right direction, that can be good news. And big losses can lead to big problems for investors: A stock that falls 10% in a day needs to rise 11% to get back to par, but the associated leveraged ETF, down 20%, would need to rise 25%.

The second is caused by something called "volatility decay," which occurs because leveraged ETFs are rebalanced daily. Let's say that, on a given day, a $100 stock rises 10%, to $110; the corresponding 2X leveraged ETF will rise 20%, to $120. But if, on the next day, the stock falls about 9.1%, back to $100, the leveraged ETF will fall more than 18%, to closer to $98. The longer this effect runs, the more challenged those ETF returns can be. To minimize this effect, it's generally suggested that an investor not hold a leveraged ETF for more than a few days at a time. (And that, naturally, requires correct bets about which days are the best ones on which to buy and sell.)

That drag happens even when the asset in question is a blue-chip stock that has been gaining. For example, compare the year-to-date return of Apple (AAPL), which has risen about 9%, to that of any 2X leveraged ETF that is referencing it; the latter's returns won't be double that.

Finally, as with most investment products, investors should read the fine print. The operating costs of buying and selling derivatives, plus the fees the fund shop charges to run the ETF, are a drag on returns, especially if the underlying asset—and your fund—aren't logging big gains. These products generally have expenses far higher than do more basic products, such as S&P 500 index funds, and investors should calculate the effect of those expenses on their results.

• Quantum computing stocks rallied, led by D-Wave, after analysts raised their price target for D-Wave's stock in the wake of its first analyst day earlier this month.
• It's not the first time that good news for one quantum stock has ended up powering notable moves across the sector.

An upbeat outlook on a quantum-computing stock lifted the sector Monday.

D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) shares soared 15% to $27, leading a group of peers higher after analysts from Mizuho raised their price target for the stock to $35 from $29, keeping their "overweight" rating following the firm's first analyst day earlier this month. The analysts said they see D-Wave "maintaining leadership" in one of the two main methods of quantum computing, while also "delivering a roadmap" to the other method, making it a "dual-platform" company.

Good news for one quantum stock can often lead to gains for the broader sector. That was the case back in April, when the announcement of new AI models from Nvidia (NVDA) aimed at the industry sent shares surging. Last month, the stocks were boosted by news that the Trump administration would take stakes in several public and private quantum computing firms as part of handing out funding from the CHIPS Act passed by the Biden administration.

The new price target could serve as a positive sign to investors that more gains could be ahead for the quantum computing sector.

Fellow stocks in the industry popped alongside D-Wave today. Quantum Computing (QUBT) was up 15%, while Rigetti Computing (RGTI) and IonQ (IONQ) jumped 11% and 9%, respectively.

While all four stocks are now in positive territory for the year, they are off last October's highs set when investors were increasingly betting on the long-term potential of the industry.

Monday's gains put D-Wave back into positive territory for 2026. Its rivals are up anywhere from 5% to 40% since the start of the year.

Read Investopedia's full coverage of today's trading here.