Wall Street surged on Monday, with all three major U.S. indexes closing higher, largely driven by the ongoing global AI boom and strength in the chipmaking sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29%, the S&P 500 gained 0.72%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.12%. MSCI's gauge of global stocks also increased by 0.41%. This positive momentum was fueled by news such as South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix launching a U.S. share sale to raise 43 trillion won ($28.07 billion) and receiving $7 billion in interest from major investors. Additionally, Broadcom expanded its partnership with Apple to develop and supply custom chips through 2031, which significantly boosted semiconductor stocks.
Oil prices remained relatively flat, hovering around pre-Iran war levels, with U.S. crude at $68.69 a barrel and Brent crude at $72.10 per barrel. The stability in oil prices, despite ongoing U.S.-Iran peace talks and Saudi Arabia cutting official selling prices, contributed to easing services inflation pressure, according to data from the Institute for Supply Management. In other market news, Microsoft announced workforce reductions of approximately 4,800 jobs, or 2.1% of its global staff, with 3,200 of these cuts coming from Xbox, amid its increased AI spending. In commodity markets, gold was down 0.29% at $4,163.10 an ounce.
Investors are now eagerly awaiting the upcoming corporate earnings season. Delta Air Lines and PepsiCo are slated to report this week, while Samsung Electronics is expected to announce an 18-fold increase in profit on Tuesday. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell by 0.77 basis points to 4.471%. In currency markets, the dollar index saw a slight dip of 0.01% to 100.86, while strengthening 0.44% against the yen to 162.08, nearing 40-year peaks. Analysts expect Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh's first Federal Open Market Committee minutes, due Wednesday, to be less informative regarding future interest rate moves, though Governor Christopher Waller defended forward guidance as a valuable tool.
