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Shares of Microsoft Corp. surged on Monday, jumping in its biggest one-day pop in years and helping to lead both the technology sector and the broader market higher. The stock , a Dow component, climbed 6.5% and was on track for its best day since Oct. 2015. Gains came after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Microsoft to $130, a level that implies upside of 40% from current levels. In addition, Microsoft announced an extension of its China partnership with Adobe Systems Inc. . Shares of Adobe were up 3.9%. Microsoft was the biggest percentage gainer in the S&P 500 on Monday, and the rise contributed to the 2.3% gain in the technology sector , which was the top-performing industry group of the day. Thus far this year, Microsoft is up 8.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.7% on Monday while the S&P 500 was up 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.6%.

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Smartsheet Inc. said it is launching an initial public offering, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday. The Bellevue, Wash.-based cloud-based business collaboration software said it hopes to raise up to $100 million but that amount is often used as a placeholder and revised in a later filing. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies and RBC Capital Markets are listed as underwriters. Smartsheet reported fiscal 2018 revenue of $111.3 million with a loss of $49.1 million, compared to revenue of $67 million and a loss of $15.2 million in the year previous. The company plans to list under the ticker symbol “SMAR” on the New York Stock Exchange. The filing comes following the success of tech IPOs like Dropbox Inc. and Zscalar Inc. .

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An auction of 2-year Treasury notes saw weak demand, pushing yields higher across the board. The 2-year Treasury note yield rose 2.5 basis points to 2.287%, according to Tradeweb data. The 10-year note yield was up 1.9 basis points to 2.845%, while the 30-year bond yield was mostly unchanged at 3.077%. Bond prices fall when yields rise. The auction “tailed” 0.4 basis points, a sign of diminished appetite. The tail is the gap between the highest yield the Treasury sold in the auction and the highest yield expected when the auction began – the “when issued” level. The 2-year note yield is sensitive to shifting expectations for monetary policy and has seen a relentless climb since September on rising expectations for a more aggressive Federal Reserve.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. are up 2.8% in Monday trading after Stifel analyst Drew Crum reiterated his upbeat view of the company’s prospects and dismissed concerns that the popular “Fortnite” game, made by privately held Epic Games, posed a material threat to EA. “‘Fortnite’ is VERY popular right now, but the sky isn’t falling for EA,” Crum wrote. “We’re not dismissing Fortnite, but also think the absence of any major releases (since November) has probably had some affect on its success.” Crum said that his recent meetings with management indicated that the company is “happy” with engagement levels for its major franchises. The company singled out “Battlefield 1” and FIFA Ultimate Team, according to Crum, who thinks the title will benefit from the World Cup this summer. EA shares are up 40% over the past year, while Activision Blizzard Inc. shares are up 41% and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. are up 76%. The S&P 500 has gained 12% in that time.

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U.S. stocks traded well off session highs in late-morning trade Monday, with a decline in Facebook contributing to the midday retreat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1%, but it had previously gained more than 2% on the day. The S&P 500 was up 0.6%, less than half the 2% increase it had seen earlier in the session, which had represented its biggest one-day percentage gain since November 2016. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.5%. The index, which is heavily weighted toward large-capitalization technology and internet stocks, previously rose 2.1%. Facebook fell 5.6%, with losses accelerating after the Federal Trade Commission said it was investigating the company’s privacy practices. The social-media giant has been under tremendous selling pressure of late, and it is down more than 20% from its recent record high, a decline that puts it into bear-market territory. Despite Facebook’s weakness, the technology sector remained up 1.1% on the day, and all 11 primary S&P 500 sectors were in positive territory. The gains on the day came on signs that concerns over a potential trade war were waning.

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Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. are down 3.6% in Monday morning trading after Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland downgraded the stock to negative from neutral. “While this call is likely early (in front of needed GPU channel replenishment), the proliferation of Ethereum mining ASICs have the ability to impact ~20% of AMD’s total company revenue,” he wrote, referring to application-specific integrated circuit chips. He thinks AMD will “blow out” its next quarterly report, but his concerns have a longer time frame. Rolland also lowered his price target on Nvidia Corp. shares to $215 to $200. He rates Nvidia at neutral. AMD shares are down 25% over the past 12 months, while Nvidia’s stock is up 122%. The S&P 500 is up 11% in that time, compared with a 34% rise for the PHLX Semiconductor Index .

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Shares of General Electric Co. fell on Monday, bucking the sharply upward trend of the broader market as the beleagured industrial conglomerate continued to struggle. The stock fell 1.5% to $12.88, dropping below $13 for the first time since July 2009. GE is on track for its third straight daily decline, as well as its eighth negative session of the past 10. At current levels, it is down more than 26% in 2018, and it has lost more than half its value over the past 12 months. The company has been struggling for years, with the stock recently pressured by downbeat profit outlooks, a halved dividend, and an accounting probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission, among other factors. The stock was the only one of the 30 Dow components to be negative on Monday. The Dow gained 1.5% while the S&P 500 was up 1.3% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.4%.

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The Federal Trade Commission on Monday said it’s investigating the privacy practices of Facebook . “The FTC is firmly and fully committed to using all of its tools to protect the privacy of consumers,” said Tom Pahl, acting director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection, in a statement. “Foremost among these tools is enforcement action against companies that fail to honor their privacy promises, including to comply with Privacy Shield, or that engage in unfair acts that cause substantial injury to consumers in violation of the FTC Act. Companies who have settled previous FTC actions must also comply with FTC order provisions imposing privacy and data security requirements. Accordingly, the FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook. Today, the FTC is confirming that it has an open non-public investigation into these practices.”

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TD Ameritrade on Monday said reports of a systemwide outage on its platform were inaccurate and said issues before the open were limited to clients being unable to see balance and position information on the trading outfit’s website. A spokeswoman said the technical issue was resolved before the start of regular trade, emphasizing that the ability to trade wasn’t affected. “The ability to trade wasn’t impacted. This issue didn’t impact other platforms, such as Thinkorswim or our Mobile Trader app, and service was restored by market open,” she said. News about the technical problem was https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/broker-td-ameritrade-suffers-system-wide-outage.html. Shares of TD Ameritrade were up 1.9% early Monday, and have gained 13.1% so far in 2018, compared with a 3.3% decline for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a loss of 1.8% for the S&P 500 index , and a gain of 2.9% for the Nasdaq Composite Index over the same stretch.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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