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Stocks jumped in early trading Monday, adding to the previous session’s solid gains, as technology shares surged.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were up 0.5% and 1.1%, respectively, about 50 minutes after the opening well, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1.8%. Stocks jumped on Friday to snap a weeklong losing streak. Despite the gains, the S&P 500 posted losses for the week, the third time in four weeks it did so as a post-election rally has lost steam.
Chip stocks were leading the move higher early Monday after contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn posted record fourth-quarter revenue driven by the boom in demand for AI technologies. Shares of Micron (MU) soared 10% to lead Nasdaq gainers, while ASML Holding (ASML) and KLA Corp. (KLA) each added more than 5%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) was up 4%.
Shares of AI chipmaker and investor favorite Nvidia (NVDA) were up 4.5% ahead of a highly anticipated keynote speech from CEO Jensen Huang, scheduled for Monday evening, at a major consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas.
Other large-cap technology stocks were higher across the board this morning. Tesla (TSLA), which jumped 8% on Friday to break a five-day losing run, was up 1% this morning. Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) and Broadcom (AVGO) also gained ground.
Among other noteworthy gainers, server maker Super Micro Computer (SMCI) was up 10% after gaining more than 10% the previous session. Sentiment received a boost after Microsoft announced Friday that it plans to spend about $80 billion this fiscal year on data centers that power AI.
Shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR), one of the world’s largest holders of bitcoin, were up more than 5% today after the company announced it had purchased more of the digital currency.
Bitcoin was at $101,300 in recent trading, up from an earlier low around $98,000 and at its highest level in nearly three weeks. The digital currency has gained more 40% since the election on investor hopes that a pro-crypto Trump White House and Congress will adopt policies that benefit the asset class.
The yield on 10-year Treasurys, which is correlated with expectations about where interest rates are headed, was at 4.63%, up from 4.60% on Friday. Investors are awaiting the release on Friday of the December jobs report for information that could affect the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates later this month.
Gold futures were down 0.4% at around $2,645 an ounce, while crude oil futures were up more than 1%.
