The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.05% on Monday to an intraday record of 27,544.07, while the S&P 500 rose about 0.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added nearly 0.2%. The advance came even as the 10-year Treasury yield jumped more than nine basis points to 5.349% and the 30-year yield rose about seven basis points to 5.703%, both trading at multiyear highs.
AI-linked technology stocks powered the rally. SpaceX surged nearly 6%, Meta gained more than 2%, Microsoft rose over 1%, Nvidia advanced more than 1%, and Tesla moved 2% higher. Investors shrugged off the usual pressure from elevated yields because AI-related earnings have repeatedly exceeded expectations. Analysts expect S&P 500 profits to grow more than 30% year over year in the third quarter, with AI companies supplying a disproportionate share of that expansion.
Support also came from lower oil prices and a softer US employment report. Brent crude fell more than 1.9% to $100.30 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate declined about 2% to $89.29. The September jobs report showed slower-than-expected US job growth, cutting the probability of an October Federal Reserve rate hike to 24% from roughly 70% a week earlier, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. ISM services PMI rose to 54.9 in September, broadly matching expectations. Investors now await the Federal Reserve’s September meeting minutes and the start of third-quarter earnings season. Elsewhere, PTC surged after Schneider Electric agreed to acquire it for $22.6 billion, RXO advanced after C.H. Robinson’s $5.8 billion deal, and Cerebras Systems gained after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called the chip designer a close partner. Despite the record, market breadth remained narrow: only about 31.5% of Nasdaq stocks traded above their 50-day moving averages, while roughly 27% of S&P 500 constituents did the same.
