NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market is rallying and clawing back more of its big loss from last week as oil prices swing lower. The strength came even though Nvidia, one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks, sank. The S&P rose 0.8 per cent early Monday and was on track for a second straight gain following a wipeout on worries that Democratic victories in the midterm elections could mean a slowdown in the construction for AI data centers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 541 points, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.8 per cent. Stocks got a lift from a 5.4 per cent drop in Brent crude. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back for updates. AP’s earlier story follows below. U.S. futures are rising and artificial intelligence companies continue to rebound despite an internal investigation by Nvidia into its CEO Jensen Huang, who may have been the “target of a foreign intelligence effort.” Futures for the S&P 500 climbed 0.7 per cent on Monday, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1 per cent. Nasdaq futures added 0.4 per cent. Despite recent gyrations, the S&P 500 is only 5.7 per cent below its all-time high, which was set last month, after midterm elections in the U.S. upended markets. Shares of Nvidia slid five per cent before the opening bell Monday after Nvidia said it was opening an investigation into reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. Huang acknowledged that he had been intimate with a business executive who, according to The New York Times, U.S. intelligence determined was gathering information for China. China’s Foreign Ministry has denied any spying allegations. Nvidia is a central player in the race to develop artificial intelligence. Its chips power many of the data centers and computing systems used to train and run AI models. Energy prices are retreating with President Donald Trump set to meet Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the White House on Monday. The Associated Press has reported that Iran was reviewing proposals presented by chief mediator Qatar aimed at addressing differences with the United States about Tehran’s nuclear program. Brent crude oil, the international standard, dropped 3.6 per cent to US$94.76 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude fell 3.1 per cent to US$88.05 per barrel. Yet hostilities continue in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted incoming missiles targeting the kingdom’s capital and other regions on Sunday, with falling debris damaging a building belonging to the state-owned oil giant Aramco in Riyadh’s financial district. AI stocks are mostly higher with companies in the sector, including Applied Materials, CoreWeave and Cisco, reporting earnings this week. Shares of CoreWeave are down 3.4 per cent in premarket trading, while shares of Applied Materials are up nearly two per cent. Cisco’s stock is up slightly. On Monday, Trump Media & Technology Group, as well as Skydance, report quarterly earnings. Shares of Trump Media were hammered last week after disastrous midterm elections for the GOP. Shares are essentially flat before the opening bell. Shares of Skydance, the entertainment giant borne of Paramount’s US$81 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery last month, gained almost two per cent in premarket trading. New data on inflation may also move markets this week. The U.S. releases its consumer price index Tuesday and the producer price index, or prices before they hit consumers, on Friday. In Europe, Germany’s DAX climbed 1 per cent to 26,070.78, and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.7 per cent, at 8,197.80. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7 per cent to 10,745.87. Asian markets were mixed. The U.S. dollar slipped to 157.95 Japanese yen from 158.36 yen late Friday. The euro rose to US$1.1191 from US$1.1142. --- Elaine Kurtenbach and Michelle Chapman, The Associated Press
