Wall Street kicked off the week on a confident note, with all three major indexes climbing as investors welcomed signs that the U.S. and China may be quietly working toward a framework to reduce tariffs. The S&P 500 added 1.2%, the Nasdaq surged 1.7%, and even the more defensive Dow tacked on 0.8%. It was the kind of broad, risk-on Monday that reminds the market it hasn't forgotten how to rally.
Technology was the clear leader. NVIDIA jumped 4.6%, driven by reports that major cloud providers are accelerating their AI infrastructure buildouts and placing larger-than-expected orders for next-generation chips. The move lifted the broader semiconductor space, with AMD and Broadcom both gaining more than 2% in sympathy.
Not everyone celebrated, though. Boeing fell 3.1% after an internal quality audit, reported over the weekend, flagged new defects in fuselage assembly. Investors who had been hoping for a clean recovery story were reminded the turnaround remains fragile and uneven.
Gold stayed elevated near $3,285, reflecting persistent macro uncertainty even as equities climbed. Oil slipped slightly to $63.80 a barrel on demand concerns. The VIX eased to 22.4 — still elevated historically, but trending in the right direction as sentiment cautiously improves.