Wall Street Rebounds From AI Sell-Off as Oil Falls, While Nvidia Slides on Huang Probe

As of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, the S&P 500 was up 1.9% and on course for a second straight gain, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 805 points, or 1.6%, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.5% higher. The S&P 500 remained 3.8% below the record it set last month.

The rebound followed a week in which the Nasdaq composite fell 3.4%, the S&P 500 2.7% and the Dow 0.9%, with the Nasdaq entering correction territory on Thursday. That sell-off was driven by concern that Democratic gains in the midterm elections, and voter anger over electricity bills, could lead to restrictions on data centre construction and reduce demand for AI chips, power and related services.

The stocks hit hardest by that worry led Monday's recovery. Advanced Micro Devices rose 9.5%, recovering part of an 11% drop last week, and AI cloud provider CoreWeave gained 6.4% after losing 15.4% the week before. Constellation Energy, which supplies electricity to data centres run by large technology companies, rose after its quarterly profit and revenue beat analysts' expectations.

Nvidia Moves Against the Market

Nvidia shares fell about 5% before the opening bell and were down 3.8% at mid-morning. The company's board said it is investigating reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, after he acknowledged an intimate relationship with a business executive who, according to The New York Times, US intelligence determined was gathering information for China. The board said it had "no reason to believe" that national security or company secrets had been compromised. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun rejected the allegations as "nothing but smears against China." Nvidia is scheduled to report quarterly results on November 17.

Oil and Iran

Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 4.1% to $94.27 a barrel, extending a retreat from more than $112 at the start of November. Prices eased after President Donald Trump told CNN that renewed strikes on Iran were "highly unlikely" if negotiations progress, though Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a more guarded line on Sunday, calling some Iranian demands "outrageous and ridiculous." Trump was due to meet Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, at the White House on Monday, and Iran is reviewing Qatari mediation proposals on its differences with Washington, according to the Associated Press.

Lower energy prices matter for the inflation outlook and for bond markets. The 10-year Treasury yield held at 4.86%, unchanged from late Friday, after topping 5.30% last month, its highest level in two decades.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 2.3% after a tech sell-off had pushed Japanese shares into a bear market, and France's CAC 40 gained 1.2%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.1%, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.3%.

The rally faces several tests this week. The US consumer price index for October is due on Tuesday and producer prices on Friday. Companies reporting results include CoreWeave, Cisco, Applied Materials, Nebius and Cerebras, whose numbers will be read for signs of whether AI infrastructure spending and its financing are holding up ahead of Nvidia's report next week.