A powerful rally in technology shares propelled the S&P 500 to its strongest single-day gain since early August. The advance was further supported by sliding oil prices and upbeat signals from officials regarding this week's highly anticipated summit between the US and Chinese leaders.
The Nasdaq 100 climbed 2.8%, marking its biggest daily jump since August 4, as the tech-heavy benchmark edges closer to its first record close in six months. The broader S&P 500 rose 1.5%, with communication services and technology sectors leading the charge.
Meta Platforms Inc made the largest contribution to the S&P 500's advance, with investors showing optimism over the company's newly unveiled artificial intelligence agent, Muse. Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co LLC, remarked, "There's no question today's move was impressive, but it wasn't broad-based." He noted a significant divergence between the S&P 500 and its equal-weight version, emphasizing that the rally was heavily concentrated in tech names.
Falling crude prices and hopes for a de-escalation in geopolitical tensions also provided additional support to equities. US Treasury Secretary Bessent described his weekend talks with Chinese officials as "very successful," signaling a stabilizing relationship ahead of the bilateral meeting between the two heads of state this week. President Trump also indicated he might be open to meeting with Iranian President Pezeshkian. Oil prices slipped below $100 a barrel following a US military commander's statement that petroleum shipments through the Strait of Hormuz had reached a six-month high.
Strategists at JPMorgan, led by Mislav Matejka, cautioned that the market could still face "very short-term" volatility given the ongoing conflict with Iran and the historically weaker performance typically seen in September. Meanwhile, Chicago Fed President Goolsbee warned that the central bank cannot afford to ignore repeated and prolonged supply-side shocks.
At the closing bell, the S&P 500 advanced 1.5% to 7,764.70 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% to 52,048.83 points. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.3% to 27,122.09 points, and the Nasdaq 100 jumped 2.8% to 30,482.35 points. The Russell 2000 index rose 0.5% to 2,875.36 points.
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