Stocks Soar to Near-Record Highs Amid AI Frenzy and Tariff Tensions

Wall Street hit the roof on Monday, with stocks rocketing towards all-time highs as investors brushed off tariff tensions and zeroed in on the tech earnings bonanza looming on the horizon.

The Dow jetted up 220 points, a sizzling 0.52%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq weren't far behind, climbing 0.58% and 0.75% respectively. It's like the market's on fire!

Tech stocks are the hot ticket right now, with traders throwing cash at shares ahead of critical earnings from giants like Alphabet and Tesla, both set to spill the beans on Wednesday. The buzz is palpable, but so are the sky-high valuations, which have some economists screaming "bubble alert!" Apollo’s chief economist, Torsten Slok, dropped a bombshell, saying that valuations for the top S&P 500 firms, including Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple, are now crazier than during the dot-com madness.

Investors are betting big on tech, especially with Alphabet and Tesla ready to report on Wednesday, kicking off the earnings season for the tech titans. If their numbers are strong, it could be the green light for the market's wild optimism and those lofty valuations.

But hold on, the market's AI obsession is drawing some serious déjà vu vibes from the 1999 tech bubble. Torsten Slok from Apollo Global Management is sounding the alarm, warning that this AI bubble might be even worse than the dot-com fiasco.

Torsten Slok didn't hold back, tweeting, "The difference between the IT bubble in the 1990s and the AI bubble today is that the top 10 companies in the S&P 500 today are more overvalued than they were in the 1990s."

Slok crunched the numbers and found that the top 10 S&P 500 companies are more overvalued now than at the peak of the dot-com bubble. He's comparing P/E ratios of big names like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple, and the results are off the charts.

EU Gears Up for Trade Showdown as Tensions Boil Over

But it's not all sunshine and rainbows—traders are also sweating over U.S. trade policy, with tensions with the EU heating up. The European Union is loading up for a trade war if they can't cut a deal with the U.S. A German official didn't mince words, saying, "If they want war, they will get war," in the thick of trade negotiations.

This is all in response to President Donald Trump cranking up the heat on the EU and other trading partners. Trump's pushing for a 20% minimum tariff on EU goods, jacked up from the 15% he floated earlier. Meanwhile, the EU's shooting for a 10% baseline tariff, with some special treatment for certain industries. It's like watching a high-stakes poker game, and nobody's folding yet.