S&P 500 is little changed Monday following 4 weeks of gains: Live updates

Adobe Analytics raised its forecast for Cyber Monday spending after robust holiday shopping online over the Thanksgiving weekend. It now predicts shoppers will spend between $12 billion and $12.4 billion today.

Adobe said online spending on Black Friday topped its predictions at $9.8 billion, up 7.5% year over year. Over Saturday and Sunday, shoppers rang up another $10.3 billion in purchases, or about 7.7% above last year’s tally.

“An uncertain demand environment pushed retailers to deliver big discounts this season, while also fortifying their e-commerce services with flexible payment methods, better personalization, and enhanced mobile functionality” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights, in an email. “Consumers have taken note and spent at record rates during the big shopping days, despite dealing with rising costs in other parts of their lives.”

The rosy outlook for online spending was lifting shares of Shopify, which was up more than 4% in trading, setting a fresh 52-week high.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

The dollar index is on track to post its biggest loss of the year this month.

The index, which tracks the U.S. greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, has slid 3.2% since November began. If that holds through month’s end, it would mark the worst monthly performance since November 2022, when the index dropped 5%.

— Alex Harring, Gina Francolla

GAM Investments’ Niall Gallagher told Bloomberg that he’s trimming his holdings in Novo Nordisk’s stock by half because the stock’s valuation has gotten too rich. While Gallagher doesn’t expect any rivals to catch up with Novo and Eli Lilly in the weight loss drug market anytime soon, he told the news service “there’s a lot of hype and it goes beyond just stock markets.”

For months, there has been a ton of chatter about Novo’s Ozempic and Wegovy and Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound. The drugs treat type 2 diabetes and help patients lose weight by copying hormones in the gut. Other health benefits have also been touted.

Gallagher doesn’t doubt Novo has growth ahead of it, but shares are priced at nearly 33 times forward earnings. Compare that to the average health stock, which is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of about 17.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

Online retail stocks rose in early morning trading during the Cyber Monday event. Amazon shares gained 0.7%, while Best Buy added 0.2%. Shares of Canadian e-commerce company Shopify popped 3.9%.

— Sarah Min

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell.

• Okta — The cybersecurity company fell 1.1% after Jefferies downgraded shares to market perform from outperform. Okta’s security breach announced on Oct. 20 has significantly degraded the brand and lead to a lack of trust among its customers, according to Jefferies. 
• Teva Pharmaceutical — Shares gained 2.3% following an upgrade from UBS to buy from neutral. UBS cited the pharmaceutical company’s strong brand pipeline and upcoming outcomes to two major clinical trials.
• Mondelez — Shares rose 1.1% after RBC upgraded the snack maker to outperform from sector perform, citing share gains, category growth and expanding retail footprint. 

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

The Wall Street Journal reported that Elliott Management has accumulated a more than $2 billion stake in Crown Castle and plans to push for changes within the wireless-tower operator. Specifically, Elliott wants to approach the company on ways to boost the stock, the report said, citing sources.

Shares rose nearly 5% on the back of the report.

— Fred Imbert

European markets dipped at the start of the new trading week, though sector movements remained subdued.

Oil and gas stocks fell 0.8% as retail nudged 0.3% higher.

The Stoxx 600 index was 0.1% lower at 9:05 a.m. London time. The pan-European benchmark has climbed steadily through November and is on track for a monthly gain of more than 6%, according to LSEG data, its best month since January.

— Jenni Reid

The Beijing Stock Exchange has asked major shareholders of listed companies not to reduce holdings even if they are eligible to do so, Reuters reported.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters said this was due to fears that such moves could “dull market excitement.”

According to LSEG data, the Beijing Stock Exchange 50 Index has largely been on an uptrend since October, registering a one month gain of 44.72% and three month gain of 44.75%.

These gains were due to stocks rising on the back of supportive measures, Reuters reported.

The Beijing exchange and the China Securities Regulatory Commission did not immediately reply to Reuters’ requests for comment.

— Lim Hui Jie, Reuters

Hong Kong-listed China property stocks slid on Monday, leading declines among other sectors on Monday.

Shares of property developers including Logan Group, China Vanke, Sunac and Longfor Group fell between 4% and 8%.

The Hang Seng Mainland Properties index, housing real estate firms, dropped 3.51%.

It was reported over the weekend that Beijing police was investigating debt-laded Chinese shadow bank Zhongzhi Enterprise Group.

Zhongzhi last week declared insolvency in a letter to its investors.  

China’s CSI 300 index fell 1.19%, leading declines among major Asia markets.