Stocks Post Best Day Since April as Dow Jumps 1,104 Points, but Nvidia Sinks 4%
Wall Street posted its best day in seven months Monday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1,104 points and a steep drop in oil prices eased inflation worries.
The Dow closed up 2.15% at 52,389.75, the S&P 500 gained 2.35% to 7,549.94 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.74% to 25,253.14, Reuters reported. The S&P 500 notched its biggest one-day percentage gain since April 8.
The rebound clawed back part of last week’s rout, the S&P 500’s worst week since April 2025. The Associated Press called it the market’s best day since April, driven in part by oil prices swinging lower.
Last week’s selloff followed the Democratic sweep in the midterm elections, which fed concerns that new regulations could weigh on artificial intelligence stocks, according to Reuters. All 11 major S&P 500 sectors finished higher, led by industrials and consumer discretionary.
Oil Drop Fuels the Rally
Crude prices fell to three-month lows after President Donald Trump said he was “highly unlikely” to order new strikes on Iran while negotiations progress, DTN reported. U.S. benchmark crude settled down $3.98, or 4.38%, at $86.85 a barrel.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, dropped $5.75 to $92.57 a barrel, while wholesale gasoline futures fell nearly 13 cents to about $2.65 a gallon.
Cheaper fuel lifted airlines and truckers. American Airlines and Alaska Air each closed up more than 7%, and United Airlines gained more than 6%, Barchart reported.
Chipmakers led the charge after a brutal week. Advanced Micro Devices jumped more than 13%, Applied Materials rose more than 11% and Broadcom gained more than 8%, while Tesla and Meta Platforms each climbed more than 5%.
Nvidia was the glaring exception. The chipmaker fell 4.2% to its lowest close since April 7 as investors questioned CEO Jensen Huang’s future following an internal board investigation into whether a foreign intelligence effort had targeted him, Reuters reported.
“The AI story is not going away,” Ken Polcari, chief market strategist at SlateStone Wealth, told Reuters. “They can put regulation around it, but they’re certainly not stopping it.”
Not every stock joined the party. Capital One shares fell for most of the session after Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she is ready to introduce a bill capping credit card interest rates at 10%, CNBC reported.
Rate worries also lingered. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said inflation is starting to pick up in services, and Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin said rates will need to go higher, Barchart reported.
Markets are pricing in an 82% chance of a quarter-point rate hike at the Federal Reserve’s December 8-9 meeting, and the 10-year Treasury yield edged up to 4.866%.
Investors now turn to the Labor Department’s October consumer price index on Tuesday and the producer price index on Friday, two reports that could test whether Monday’s bounce has staying power.
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