Investors were pleased at the big rebound that the stock market had on Monday, and the news for the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.64%) was especially good. As of 3:15 p.m. EST, the Nasdaq had gained more than 2.5%, leading the way higher for the markets overall.
One set of Nasdaq stocks that has been instrumental in the index's advances lately has been the e-commerce sector. Today, some big gains from key players in the industry are powering the Nasdaq's gains, and they could continue to have a massive impact on the stock market in the future. Below, we'll look at what's sending shares of Amazon.com (AMZN -1.65%), MercadoLibre (MELI -0.45%), and Match Group (MTCH) higher on Monday.
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The titan keeps growing
Amazon shares were up 4% on Monday. That helped the e-commerce giant claw back some of the ground it lost last week, although the stock is still lingering more than 5% below its all-time high.
Amazon's leadership in the e-commerce realm is undisputed, and its Amazon Web Services cloud computing business provides a useful counterpoint to its core marketplace unit. The services Amazon provides turned out to be incredibly useful during the pandemic in 2020.
What's more, Amazon looks like it stands to gain even more in 2021. Even as vaccines make it more likely that the brick-and-mortar economy will start opening again, it's far from certain that retailers will bother keeping their store doors open. Some believe that 2021 could actually be a worse year for store closures than 2020.
Investors are looking forward to seeing how Amazon performed when it reports earnings Tuesday afternoon. Good news could send the shares even further upward.
MercadoLibre heads north
Shares of MercadoLibre jumped almost 6% Monday. The Latin American e-commerce platform provider took a large hit last week, but it's bouncing back.
MercadoLibre's business includes not only its core e-commerce marketplace but also a host of ancillary services. The Mercado Pago electronic payments service, Mercado Envios shipping service, and Mercado Credito credit lending platform are all growth drivers for the company in key economies across Central and South America as well as Mexico.
Latin America has an even steeper growth path for e-commerce than the relatively mature U.S. market. That bodes well for MercadoLibre and for its shareholders over the long run.
Making a Match
Finally, Match Group climbed almost 5%. The online dating service has done well lately, with the complications of trying to start relationships during a pandemic working in Match's favor.
Last week, analysts at Wells Fargo boosted their views on how high Match shares could rise. Even as many hope that vaccines will allow things to get back to normal on the relationship front, Match investors still believe that online dating is here to stay. Indeed, the coming IPO of rival service Bumble is bringing some more attention to the incumbent leader in the dating space.
Match is also set to tell investors how it did in its most recent quarter when it releases its quarterly results on Tuesday. The expectation is that revenue growth will remain strong, near 20%, and earnings should rise modestly as well. If Match can do even better than that, then it would bode well for further gains.
Stay tuned
The Nasdaq is performing well, and that's good news for the stock market as a whole. If these and other companies can step up and keep contributing to the strength of the rising e-commerce economy, then the Nasdaq could have more gains in 2021 and beyond.
