By ELAINE KURTENBACH and MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writers
U.S. futures are rising and artificial intelligence companies continue to rebound despite an internal investigation by Nvidia into its CEO Jensen Huang, who may have been the “target of a foreign intelligence effort.”
Futures for the S&P 500 climbed 0.7% on Monday, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1%. Nasdaq futures added 0.4%.
Despite recent gyrations, the S&P 500 is only 5.7% below its all-time high, which was set last month, after midterm elections in the U.S. upended markets.
Shares of Nvidia slid 5% before the opening bell Monday after Nvidia said it was opening an investigation into reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. Huang acknowledged that he had been intimate with a business executive who, according to The New York Times, U.S. intelligence determined was gathering information for China.
China’s Foreign Ministry has denied any spying allegations.
Nvidia is a central player in the race to develop artificial intelligence. Its chips power many of the data centers and computing systems used to train and run AI models.
Energy prices are retreating with President Donald Trump set to meet Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the White House on Monday.
The Associated Press has reported that Iran was reviewing proposals presented by chief mediator Qatar aimed at addressing differences with the United States about Tehran’s nuclear program.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, dropped 3.6% to $94.76 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude fell 3.1% to $88.05 per barrel.
Yet hostilities continue in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted incoming missiles targeting the kingdom’s capital and other regions on Sunday, with falling debris damaging a building belonging to the state-owned oil giant Aramco in Riyadh’s financial district.
AI stocks are mostly higher with companies in the sector, including Applied Materials, CoreWeave and Cisco, reporting earnings this week. Shares of CoreWeave are down 3.4% in premarket trading, while shares of Applied Materials are up nearly 2%. Cisco’s stock is up slightly.
On Monday, Trump Media & Technology Group, as well as Skydance, report quarterly earnings.
Shares of Trump Media were hammered last week after disastrous midterm elections for the GOP. Shares are essentially flat before the opening bell.
Shares of Skydance, the entertainment giant borne of Paramount’s $81 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery last month, gained almost 2% in premarket trading.
New data on inflation may also move markets this week. The U.S. releases its consumer price index Tuesday and the producer price index, or prices before they hit consumers, on Friday.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX climbed 1% to 26,070.78, and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.7%, at 8,197.80. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7% to 10,745.87. Asian markets were mixed.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 157.95 Japanese yen from 158.36 yen late Friday. The euro rose to $1.1191 from $1.1142.