The Nasdaq closed at a record Monday as Nvidia reached a $5.76 trillion market value, Microsoft rose 1.5% and bets on an October Federal Reserve rate hike faded.
Key Points:
- The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.1% to 27,477.31, its first record close since Sept. 22.
- Nvidia rose 2.1% to a $5.76 trillion market value and Microsoft added 1.5%.
- Traders see a roughly 20% to 24% chance of an October Fed rate hike, down from about 70% a week ago.
Nvidia Lifts Nasdaq
The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.1% to 27,477.31 in its second strong session in a row, topping a record close set on Sept. 22.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and finished about 0.3% below its own record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% to 51,267.90. Nvidia led the index higher, climbing 2.1% to $238.90 for its first record close since May.
Meta Platforms and Tesla gained about 2% each, and 10 of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, led by materials and communication services. Oil prices slipped after Middle East crude exports increased and Group of Seven nations pledged to boost supply.
The rally began with Friday's jobs report.
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Hogan On Fed Bets
U.S. employers added 29,000 jobs in September, far short of the 90,000 economists expected, and figures for the previous two months were revised lower. Traders now put the odds of an October rate increase at roughly 20% to 24%, down from about 70% a week earlier, according to CME FedWatch data. Third-quarter earnings season opens next week with large U.S. banks, and analysts expect S&P 500 profits to jump more than 30% from a year earlier, according to LSEG data.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth, said investors were hunting for anything positive during a light week for economic data and had settled on lower energy prices. Sean McLaughlin, chief options strategist at All Star Charts, said before Monday's session that the market has had every reason to sell off and has not, adding that "the path of least resistance appears to be higher."
Bitcoin And Yields
Softer rate expectations have also supported risk-sensitive assets such as crypto. Bitcoin (BTC) traded near $86,000 on Monday after briefly climbing toward $87,000, a level it has failed to hold since the jobs report. Bond yields remain a drag on both markets, with the 10-year Treasury yield up 3 basis points to 5.31%, near its highest level since 2002.
Monday's close ended a two-week wait for a new Nasdaq record, a stretch in which Treasury yields climbed to their highest levels in more than two decades and the war with Iran kept oil prices high. Stocks held near their peaks through that period, with the S&P 500 about 1% below its August record before Monday, and Friday's weak payrolls report set off the two-day rally that produced the Nasdaq's new high.
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