NEW YORK: The tech-heavy Nasdaq led Wall Street’s main stock indexes higher on Monday, with Meta among the top gainers after a report said the megacap was preparing for sweeping AI-related layoffs, while the Middle East conflict kept risk-taking in check.
Meta gained 2.6 percent after Reuters reported that the company plans to shrink its workforce by 20 percent or more to offset costly artificial-intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers.
AI is expected to stay in the spotlight this week, with chip giant Nvidia’s CEO set to reveal new chips and software at the company’s annual developer conference later in the day. The chipmaker gained 2.6 percent.
Electronics giant Taiwan’s Foxconn, Nvidia’s biggest server maker, issued a strong quarterly revenue forecast on Monday.
All of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were higher, with tech leading with a 1.8 percent rise.
Tesla rose 2.1 percent as Elon Musk said the company’s Terafab project to make AI chips will launch in seven days. Meanwhile, chipmaker Micron climbed 6.3 percent following the announcement of the company’s plans for a second manufacturing facility in Taiwan.
A modest drop in crude prices after the US said it would be “fine” with some Iranian, Indian and Chinese ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz, also offered some relief to the market.
The impact of higher energy costs is likely to feature prominently in central bank meetings globally this week. The Federal Reserve is weighing tariff costs and signs of a weakening jobs market before taking a call on interest rates in its upcoming meeting.
At 11:45 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 485.19 points, or 1.04 percent, to 47,040.91, the S&P 500 gained 77.06 points, or 1.15 percent, to 6,708.70 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 316.56 points, or 1.43 percent, to 22,420.61.
Wall Street’s fear gauge, the CBOE volatility index, dropped 3.47 points to 23.72, while the rate-sensitive Russell 2000 index gained 1.4 percent.
Wall Street’s main indexes have been fraught with volatility since the war began, as traders try to gauge its repercussions on the economy.
On the data front, February industrial production increased 0.2 percent, slightly better than expectations of a 0.1 percent rise. Meanwhile, top US and Chinese economic officials were due to conclude talks in Paris and further talks are expected to be held between President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Beijing, sources familiar with the discussions said.
Crypto stocks such as Strategy added 4.7 percent as bitcoin rallied over 3 percent.
Discount retailer Dollar Tree gained 6.4 percent after signaling it could benefit from favorable tariffs in the near term.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.99-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 3.08-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 40 new highs and 96 new lows.
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