The Nasdaq Composite rose on Monday as investors focused more on artificial intelligence trading after a flurry of job announcements.
The technology-oriented Nasdaq advanced 0.4%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 272 points, or 0.6%.
Amazon shares rose 4% after the firm reached a $38 billion deal with OpenAI. It is particularly important to note that the partnership will use hundreds of thousands of Nvidia graphics processors.
The chipmaker’s shares also rose on Monday after data center firm Iren reached a multi-year, $9.7 billion deal with Microsoft to give the mega-cap tech firm access to Nvidia GB300 GPUs. Micron Technology rose 5% and led the rise in chip stocks, while Nvidia rose 2%, SEEbiz reports. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) rose about 1%. Irene shares, meanwhile, were last up 12%.
Shares of Nvidia continued to rise on Monday after Microsoft announced that it had secured export licenses from the Trump administration to ship Nvidia chips to the United Arab Emirates. The firm added that their total investment in the UAE will reach $15.2 billion by the end of 2029.
But outside of technology stocks, little gained on the trading day, as more than 400 stocks in the S&P 500 were in the red. This weak breadth was a constant concern for the market, with more stocks in the major benchmark falling than rising in October, even as AI trading pushed stocks higher during the month.
“The market is rewarding the key players in AI today,” Gil Luria, head of technology research at DA Davidson, told CNBC, pointing to Nvidia, Microsoft, Google and Amazon, as well as others like Palantir, as ones to watch.
“Those companies are leading the way and capturing almost all the value in artificial intelligence,” he continued. “They are able to provide the infrastructure needed to serve their customers, and everyone is seeing a positive turn in demand. Not only do they have the money to build more AI computing capacity, but they can expand their reach by leasing capacity from neoclouds and other data center providers.”
Wall Street is coming off a winning session that contributed to the benchmark’s October gains. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial indexes rose by 2.3% and 2.5% respectively in the month. The Nasdaq Composite beat expectations, gaining 4.7%. Those gains were driven in part by continued momentum in the AI trade, as well as signs of easing trade tensions between the US and China.
More than 300 S&P 500 companies have reported third-quarter results so far. Of those, over 80% exceeded expectations, according to FactSet. Wall Street will get more than 100 more firms to report results this week, including AI-related names Palantir and AMD.
Wall Street could get a seasonal boost this month. Data from the Stock Trader’s Almanac show that the S&P 500 rose an average of 1.8% in November, making it the strongest month on record for the benchmark index.
