Wall Street roared back to life Monday, with the Nasdaq Composite closing at a record for the first time since June and the S&P 500 notching its best day since early August, as excitement over Meta Platforms' new artificial intelligence agent lit a fire under chip stocks and a retreat in oil prices calmed a market still on edge from last week's interest-rate hike.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.49% to end at 7,764.70, while the Nasdaq Composite surged 2.26% to a record close of 27,122.09, according to Yahoo Finance's market wrap. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 366.19 points, or 0.71%, to settle at 52,048.83. All three benchmarks finished near session highs as buying accelerated into the close.
Meta was the session's standout, jumping roughly 11% after Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski raised his price target on the stock to $796 from $640 and kept an overweight rating, pointing to early momentum behind Meta's new Muse personal AI agent as evidence the company "now has a story to tell" on artificial intelligence, according to reporting from The Motley Fool. Data from app-analytics firm Apptopia showed Muse generated an estimated 1.8 million iOS downloads in the U.S. and Canada in its first 12 days on the market, ahead of the 1.3 million ChatGPT logged over a comparable early stretch.
Chipmakers Ride the Wave
The enthusiasm rippled through the semiconductor sector. Advanced Micro Devices climbed roughly 10% to a record high above $610 a share, pushing its market capitalization past $1 trillion for the first time, while Intel popped 12% and Nvidia added 2.3%. Big Tech peers also advanced, with Microsoft up 1.61%, Amazon up 1.87% and Alphabet gaining 1.55%, underscoring how thoroughly the AI trade has come to dominate index-level moves.
Feeding the rally from a different angle, crude oil tumbled to an 11-day low. Brent crude fell 3.4% to $100.34 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate dropped 4.5% to $95.78, as satellite data showed Saudi Arabia successfully rerouting exports back through its main Persian Gulf port after a drone-damaged pipeline forced shipments offline, and as investors grew hopeful that this week's United Nations General Assembly could yield diplomatic progress between Washington and Tehran. President Trump said he would be open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the gathering.
Monday's advance marked a sharp turn in tone after a jittery week. The Federal Reserve delivered its first interest-rate increase since 2023 last Wednesday, a hawkish surprise that had pushed the 10-year Treasury yield above 5% and left major indexes essentially flat through Friday's close. With yields easing alongside oil prices, risk appetite returned in force.
Markets are starting the week on a more constructive footing, with falling oil prices helping revive risk appetite.
Daniela Hathorn, market analyst
Meta's Muse, unveiled earlier this month, is built to complete tasks on a user's behalf rather than simply answer questions, and is offered in a free version alongside paid tiers priced at $20 and $100 a month depending on usage. Even after Monday's pop, Meta shares traded at under 27 times earnings — a multiple analysts described as reasonable for a company now central to the AI-agent narrative.
What Happens Next
Investors' attention now turns to Meta Connect, the company's annual product showcase, which opens Wednesday with a keynote from Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg expected to detail further AI and wearable-device plans. Traders are also watching for confirmation that the Muse download surge translates into durable revenue, and for any follow-through from the Trump administration's diplomatic overtures at the UN gathering, which could keep pressure on oil prices — and, by extension, on the inflation and rate-path calculus that unsettled markets just days ago. The October WTI contract expires Tuesday, a technical event traders said could add volatility to oil trading in the near term.
