NEW TORK: Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Monday, with most heavyweight technology stocks rebounding after a steep fall last week, while steelmakers surged after US President Donald Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
Trump’s latest trade escalation came on Sunday when he said he would introduce 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum into the United States, on top of existing duties on the metals.
Tech stocks Nvidia rose 3.2%, while Microsoft and Alphabet climbed more than 1% each.
“There’s still this underlying theme that people want to be invested in tech stocks and AI,” said Dennis Dick, equity trader and market structure analyst at Triple D Trading.
“Those stocks continue to get bought on dips, (they) continue to outperform overall.”
Heavyweight technology stocks fell sharply on Friday after Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on all countries, matching the tariffs levied by them.
Two weeks ago, the stocks were hit by the surging popularity of Chinese startup DeepSeek’s cheaper AI model, and amid increasing scrutiny of the billions US tech giants have spent developing the technology.
At 11:13 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 69.28 points, or 0.16%, to 44,374.63, the S&P 500 gained 38.90 points, or 0.64%, to 6,064.57 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 226.95 points, or 1.16%, to 19,750.35.
Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors traded higher, with energy stocks up 1.7%, tracking elevated oil prices.
The VanEck Steel ETF jumped 2.6%, with steel producers such as Cleveland-Cliffs advancing 11.7% and US Steel gaining 4%. Aluminum producer Alcoa was up 2.3%.
US Steel also got a boost after Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary said Nippon Steel was considering proposing a bold change in its plan to buy the company.
Some earnings-driven moves also aided Monday’s gains. McDonald’s jumped 5.1% after the burger chain posted a surprise rise in its global comparable sales in the fourth quarter.
Rockwell Automation gained 11.1% after the automation products maker posted a higher-than-expected profit for the first quarter.
Coca-Cola, DoorDash, health insurer CVS Health and computer-networking equipment maker Cisco are some of the prominent companies set to report results later this week.
Later this week, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is due to testify before Congress, while a January consumer price index reading is expected to be released in the early hours of Wednesday, before Powell’s testimony.
Expectations for the Fed’s rate cuts to stay on hold in March solidified after Friday’s mixed US employment report.
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