U.S. Stocks Rally as Job Reports Come Into Focus 06/01/2026

HOT stories for today

Market wrap

• U.S. equities pushed to fresh highs Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at a record as investors shrugged off geopolitical risks tied to Venezuela. Markets rallied after U.S. forces captured and removed President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend, while President Donald Trump urged American oil companies to invest, underpinning risk appetite at the start of the year. The move suggests investors are treating the Venezuelan developments as a non-event for equities so far. The Dow climbed nearly 595 points, or about 1.2%, to a record close. The S&P 500 gained roughly 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose about 0.7%. Growth stocks led advances, with Tesla and Amazon higher, while Chevron jumped 5.1%, reflecting its position as the only major U.S. oil producer with current operations in Venezuela. Energy shares and defense contractors also advanced on bets they could benefit from efforts to rebuild the country’s energy sector.
• “Historically, headline-grabbing geopolitical events can trigger short-term volatility,” said Tom O’Shea, director of research and investment strategy at Innovator ETFs. “This time, markets are moving higher.” Global sentiment remained broadly positive. European stocks were set to open higher, Asian markets were mixed, and Bitcoin tested the $95,000 level. Attention now turns to U.S. labor-market data due Wednesday, which investors see as an early test of employment conditions amid lingering concerns over a cooling jobs market and sticky inflation.

Nvidia CEO Outlines Next AI Push in CES Keynote

• Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said the company’s next-generation Vera Rubin platform is now in production and on track to ship later this year, marking the latest step in the chipmaker’s rapid cadence of annual product upgrades. The Vera Rubin system combines a new Vera CPU, which Huang said delivers twice the performance per watt, with a Rubin GPU optimized for inference workloads. Nvidia is currently rolling out its Blackwell Ultra lineup, but demand for computing power continues to push the company to accelerate new releases.
• Speaking at CES in Las Vegas, Huang also underscored growth opportunities beyond data-center AI, pointing to advances in physical AI, including self-driving cars, robotics, and AI agents used in chip design. Nvidia also outlined on Monday plans to test a robotaxi service with an unnamed partner as early as 2027. The service would rely on Level 4 autonomous vehicles, capable of operating without human intervention in defined areas, according to company officials. Automotive remains one of Nvidia's key avenues for expanding beyond its core AI infrastructure business. “We imagine that someday, a billion cars on the road will all be autonomous,” Huang said. “You could either have it be a robotaxi that you’re orchestrating and renting from somebody, or you could own it.”

Stocks on the move:

• Oil stocks: Shares of major U.S. energy producers rallied after a U.S. operation in Venezuela resulted in the arrest of Nicolás Maduro, raising expectations that American companies could benefit from rebuilding the country’s energy infrastructure. Chevron (CVX), which already operates in Venezuela, climbed about 5%, while Exxon Mobil (XOM) added roughly 2%. Oilfield services heavyweight Halliburton (HAL) surged about 11%.
• Coinbase: The crypto exchange rose around 7% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to buy from neutral, citing strong revenue growth, market-share gains and improved competitiveness from recent product launches. (COIN)
• Okta: Shares of the access-management firm climbed about 6% after the company announced a $1 billion share buyback program, effective immediately. (OKTA)
• Arista Networks: Shares advanced more than 2% after Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to overweight, saying 2026 could mark a “year of refresh” for hardware vendors. (ANET)

Watchlist: CVX, VLO, COIN, OKTA, OKLO, NVDA, ANET, MBLY

Key Economic Events Today:

EST time

08:00 am: USD FOMC Member Barkin Speaks
09:45 am: USD Final Services PMI


Earnings

BMO ( Before Market Open): AngioDynamics (ANGO)
AMC (After Market Close): AAR Corp. (AIR), Penguin Solutions (PENG)




The TEFS Analyst team wishes you a successful day!