Nasdaq 100 Gains 1.7% as AI Chip Stocks Rebound
U.S. stocks diverged at midday Monday, with the Nasdaq 100 up 1.7% and S&P 500 up 0.7% as technology shares rebounded; the Dow hovered near flat. Cleveland-Cliffs surged 16.0% after third-quarter adjusted EPS of $0.28 topped the $0.21 consensus, with fourth-quarter EBITDA guidance above $700 million.
U.S. stocks were mixed at midday Monday, with a rebound in AI chip and infrastructure shares lifting the Nasdaq 100 by 1.7% and the S&P 500 by 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was near unchanged. The recovery followed a difficult week in which the Nasdaq fell more than 4% and chip stocks lost nearly 10%.
Fed Chair Warsh declined to preview next week’s FOMC decision. He said recent hot inflation readings had not altered his economic assessment, while markets priced roughly an 80% chance of an October hold. The 10-year Treasury yield gained about 6 basis points to 5.14%, following a decline of nearly 15 basis points last week. Technology stocks led U.S.
equity gains by midday Monday. The S&P 500 added 51 points to 7,711, while the Dow Jones fell 6 points to 51,996 as defensive and rate-sensitive groups lagged. The Nasdaq 100 rose 511 points to 29,699, though it remained about 2.3% below its September close. Among Magnificent Seven stocks, Amazon.com Inc.
(NASDAQ: AMZN) advanced 4.9% to $262.32. The Russell 2000 gained 0.6% to 2,736. AI semiconductor shares led the advance: Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) rose 5.0% as JP Morgan upgraded the stock to Lam Research Corp.
(NASDAQ: LRCX) rose 5.4%. Memory stocks rebounded after last week’s selloff: Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) advanced about 4%, SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) surged nearly 7%, and SK Hynix Inc.
(NASDAQ: SKHY) gained about 6%. Optical stocks also climbed, with Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MRVL) up 7.3%. Monday’s performance in major U.S.
indices, updated by 12:10 PM ET S&P 500: 7,710.86, +0.67%; month to date: +0.78%; year to date: +12.64%. Dow Jones: 51,996.26, -0.01%; month to date: +2.14%; year to date: +8.18%. Nasdaq 100: 29,698.65, +1.75%; month to date: -2.33%; year to date: +17.62%. Russell 2000: 2,736.43, +0.55%; month to date: -2.16%; year to date: +10.26%.
According to the Pro platform, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: VOO) gained 0.7%. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE: DIA) slipped less than 0.1%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) rose 1.7% and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE: IWM) advanced 0.5%. Technology led S&P 500 sectors. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLK) gained 2.0%, followed by the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLY), up 1.6%.
The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund was at the other end of the performance table. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLU) declined 1.6%, while the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLRE) fell 1.2% as Treasury yields climbed. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLV), Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLE) and Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLF) each lost about 0.8%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SMH) climbed 3.0%, and the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (BATS: IGV) rose 1.9%.
The VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) dropped 1.3% as gold futures eased about 0.5% to roughly $4,160 an ounce. The SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (NYSE: XME) gained 0.7%. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) led Russell 1000 gainers, jumping 16.0% to $14.06 after reporting third-quarter adjusted EPS of $0.28, above the $0.21 consensus.
Adjusted EBITDA was $612 million. Management forecast more than $700 million in the fourth quarter and over $4 billion next year, citing tariff-supported steel prices and volumes. Applied Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: APLD) advanced 10.2% to $19.89, while TeraWulf Inc.
(NASDAQ: WULF) and IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ: IREN) each rose roughly 6%. The move reflects a rebound in power-backed data center names after last FormFactor Inc. (NASDAQ: FORM) advanced 8.4% to $113.78, moving in line with semiconductor-equipment peers.
Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: TER) rose 6.6%. The gains followed the week’s selloff tied to financing concerns. Among Russell 1000 stocks on Monday, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
led the gainers at +15.98%, followed by Applied Digital Corporation at +10.19%, FormFactor, Inc. at +8.36%, Marvell Technology, Inc. at +7.27% and Sandisk Corporation at +7.18%. Almonty Industries Inc.
(NASDAQ: ALM) was the Russell 1000’s biggest decliner, falling -8.40%. Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE: MPT) dropped -7.81%, RB Global, Inc. (NYSE: RBA) fell -5.95%, Figure Technology Solutions, Inc.
(NASDAQ: FIGR) declined -4.95% and Quantinuum Inc. (NASDAQ: QNT) lost -4.78%.