Stock Market News: S&P 500 gains, Apple lays off and Crypto miners lead

Good news for investors everywhere, as the week began with significant gains for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

• The S&P 500 rose 1.6%, driven by bullish movements in Broadcom, Robinhood, and Micron.
• The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite experienced significant gains from the much-needed AI push and closed nearly 600 points, or 2.7%, higher.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average was also positive, up 0.4% at the close, and the Russell 2000 closed 1.9% higher.

After weeks of trepidation surrounding AI and tech stocks, which had mostly fallen, the market opened on a bullish note on Monday, November 24.

The CBOE Volatility Index VIX came at 20, declining nearly 12%, reaffirming investor faith.

In commodities, precious metals Gold and Silver continue to play hide and seek, up 1.4% and 2.6% today, respectively. 

Oil regained some of its losses from the past week, up 1.5% but remains under the $60 per barrel mark, as talks of Russia-Ukraine peace deal make progress.

“Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening,” President Doland Trump posted on his Truth Social on Monday.

US-China talks boost investor confidence

On Monday, President Trump posted that he “had a very good telephone call with President Xi, of China.”

The optimism surrounding the call, which included discussions on fentanyl, soybeans, and the situation in Ukraine and Russia, extended into the market as it reacted positively to the amicability between the two countries. 

It was also revealed that Chinese leader Xi has invited President Trump to Beijing, China, in April, which Trump accepted, while President Xi will also visit the US later in 2026.

The talks follow President Trump and Xi’s meeting in October during the APEC Summit in South Korea, which resulted in a decrease in tariffs, a delay in export controls on rare earths, and a promise to continue buying soybeans from US farmers.

Crypto miners turn AI Infrastructure plays, see stock rally

Cipher Mining and Iren, two Bitcoin miners turned AI computing power providers, saw a stock surge on Monday with an upgrade from analyst JP Morgan.

More AI Stocks:

• Is Nvidia’s AI boom already priced in? Oppenheimer doesn’t think so
• Windows president told ‘Stop this nonsense. No one wants this’
• Michael Burry turns up heat on anti-AI bet
• AI plays expanding role in predicting natural disasters
• Morgan Stanley revamps Nvidia’s price target ahead of big Q3
• Cathie Wood buys $16.2 million of sinking AI stock

Cipher Mining, one of the top S&P 500 performers today, jumped 18%, extending a 260% year-to-date gain buoyed by an upgrade from JPMorgan.

JPMorgan upgraded the stock to Overweight with a price target of $18, up from $12, citing attractive entry levels and the company’s improving position to sign new HPC (high performance compute) deals across approved sites, as reported by TheFly.

This upgrade follows Cipher Mining's announcement on November 20 that it has priced $333 million in additional 7.125% senior secured notes due 2030 through its subsidiary, Cipher Compute LLC, expanding its existing bond program.

The transaction became official today, November 24, 2025, meaning that funds have been transferred to Cipher and new notes delivered to investors.

Related: Apple News loses a longstanding media partner

The deal was sold privately to institutional buyers and expands the company’s existing bond program to $1.733 billion.

Cipher intends “to use the net proceeds from the offering to finance a portion of the construction costs associated with additional facilities within the Barber Lake Facility, a high-performance computing data center near Colorado City, Texas.”

Iren, another bitcoin miner turned AI contender, saw a stock gain of 14.7% on Monday, as a ripple effect of the renewed interest in AI stocks. Additionally, JPMorgan increased its price target to $39 from $28, citing a “flurry of deal activity” and strengthening its integrated cloud valuation assumptions for the target boost, as noted by TheFly.

Big tech and energy stock news

Apple's stock increased 1.6% on Monday, unaffected by the news that it would lose the rights to share CNN stories on its Apple News, as the two media giants renegotiate the terms of their existing deal.

However, later in the day, news came out that Apple had laid off dozens of employees in an attempt to restructure its sales roles, Bloomberg reported. A rarity for the tech giant, the people affected by the job include account managers serving major businesses and people operating Apple’s briefing centers. 

In an official statement, Apple noted that it continues to hire for new roles, and those affected can still apply. The company’s stock was declining after hours.

Separately, in a government-led push into private energy markets, the US plans to buy and own up to 10 new large nuclear reactors, funded through Japan’s $550 billion commitment announced in October, according to Bloomberg.

Carl Coe, the Department of Energy chief of staff, said that as much as $80 billion could be used to construct new reactors built by Westinghouse Electric. Coe was quoted during an energy conference hosted by the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council on November 20.

The increase in nuclear reactors serving as energy providers is linked to the rise of data centers and their associated, increasingly growing power demands for AI computing.

The stock of companies in the nuclear energy space, such as Oklo, NuScale Power, Constellation Energy, and Nano Nuclear Energy, all saw an uptick in trading on Monday.

Related: Lutnick says President Trump holds keys to Nvidia's China future