Nasdaq soars to lead stocks higher, Nvidia spurs AI hopes
Techs led a jump in US stocks on Monday ahead of a key Federal Reserve rate decision, as investors set aside worries about stalled interest rates to focus on hopes around AI developments.
The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained almost 1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) surged 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) added roughly 0.3%, signaling a comeback from Friday’s losses.
Stocks have notched two weeks of declines in a row as hotter-than-expected inflation and other data surprises dented faith in a policy pivot by the Fed.
All eyes are now on the Fed’s March meeting starting Tuesday, watching for whether policymakers still expect to cut rates three times in 2024. Expectations are for the central bank to keep rates unchanged at a 23-year high in its decision on Wednesday.
Techs were on the rise, buoyed by AI buzz as chipmaker Nvidia’s (NVDA) annual conference kicked off on Monday. Meanwhile, Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) shares climbed after a Bloomberg report that Apple (AAPL) is in talks to build Google’s Gemini AI engine into its next iPhone.
Premarket trading on the Nasdaq, which hosts shares in Apple, Nvidia and other tech giants, was disrupted for almost three hours thanks to a technical glitch that affected connectivity and orders before being resolved.
Investors are also looking out for the public market debut of Reddit on Thursday under the ticker “RDDT” for insight into whether the market for new issues is reviving. The IPO is said to be as much as five times oversubscribed.
Elsewhere, the market is widely expecting the Bank of Japan to ditch its negative-rate policy and hike on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei (^N225) jumped 2% as investors welcomed the prospect.
Live3 updates
Read More: Nasdaq soars to lead stocks higher, Nvidia spurs AI hopes