US stocks: Wall Street jumps as oil slide cools inflation worries; Nvidia slumps

On Monday, US stocks experienced a significant rally as cooling oil prices alleviated inflation concerns. The S&P 500 rebounded from its most substantial weekly loss since April 2025, while tech shares surged, buoyed by AI leader Nvidia's decline due to controversy surrounding its CEO, Jensen Huang. The three major indices closed higher on the day, with nine out of eleven S&P 500 sector indexes registering gains exceeding 1 percent.

Industrials and consumer discretionary sectors led the charge, surging more than 3 percent each. Despite the overall positive sentiment, Nvidia's stock dropped 4.2 percent, reaching its lowest level since April 7. Investors expressed uncertainty about Huang's future at the AI chipmaker following an internal probe into potential foreign intelligence targeting.

Ken Polcari, a market strategist, stated that "the AI story is not going away if people are worried about that, the Democrats are not going to destroy AI. They can’t. It’s got a life of its own. They can put regulation around it, but they’re certainly not stopping it." The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,104.02 points, or 2.15 percent, to 52,389.75, while the S&P 500 gained 173.08 points, or 2.35 percent, to 7,549.94, marking the biggest daily percentage gain since April 8.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 673.71 points, or 2.74 percent, to 25,253.14, marking its largest daily advance since July 30. Inflation data, including the Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index, will be released this week, with analysts questioning whether last week's AI stock decline was an overreaction. Despite oil prices easing, the probability of a Federal Reserve rate hike at the December policy meeting remains high, according to CME FedWatch, as October's robust jobs report provided the central bank with room to continue raising rates.