Wall Street's main indexes advanced on Monday, with oil prices falling more than 7% on optimism surrounding a potential US-Iran peace agreement. Investors also turned their attention to the upcoming midterm elections and a week filled with corporate earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 566 points, or 1.1%, in midday trading, reaching 52,336. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both saw gains of 0.6%.
Brent crude prices dropped to a near two-week low amid reports of peace talks between Iran and Qatar aimed at ending the eight-month conflict with the United States. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian indicated that the country's supreme leader has granted the government certain authorities concerning peace negotiations, according to state media.
Leading technology stocks experienced gains, with Nvidia and Amazon increasing by 1.5% and 4.1%, respectively. This uptick offered some relief to the AI sector, which had a difficult October, pushing the Nasdaq-100 close to correction territory as investor concerns grew about high AI spending by major tech companies without immediate evidence of strong returns.
However, concerns persisted for some companies. Oracle's stock fell 5.8% after regulatory filings revealed plans to raise $20 billion through debt and share sales, raising investor questions about debt-funded expenditures in a rising interest rate environment.
Anthropic's amended IPO filing showed a significant narrowing of its net loss in the third quarter, alongside a jump in revenue, as the company prepares for a potential listing.
Marvell Technology declined by 6.1% following its announcement to acquire Lumentum, a maker of optical components, in an all-stock deal valued at $115 billion, including debt. Lumentum shares dropped 10.5%.
Intel continued its downward trend, falling 2.6% after experiencing its largest one-day drop since the 1980s on Friday. The company had previously forecast quarterly revenue below market expectations and indicated it does not anticipate positive cash flow this year.
Competitor AMD is scheduled to release its earnings later in the week. Apple's stock decreased by 1.3% ahead of its quarterly earnings announcement.
"It is likely to remain volatile through the earnings season, and individual companies may get punished by the market if they’re not fulfilling the market’s asks on all of those fronts," said Kiran Ganesh, multi-asset strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Key events this week include the US midterm elections on Tuesday, which will determine the balance of power in Congress. Data released Monday also showed a pickup in US manufacturing activity in October, driven by robust domestic demand.