By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks drifted higher on Monday following big rallies for markets in Asia earlier in the day.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% and pulled closer to its all-time high set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 20 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.9%.
The relatively modest moves followed a 3.9% burst higher for Japan’s Nikkei 225 to a record. Stocks rallied there following a landslide victory for the prime minister’s political party in a parliamentary election. The thought is that will give Sanae Takaichi more power to push through reforms that will boost the economy and market.
On Wall Street, the U.S. stock market was coming off its best day since May to close last week, but several concerns still hang over the market. That includes criticism that stocks have simply become too expensive following their run to records.
Worries are also heavy about whether all the huge spending by Big Tech and other companies on artificial-intelligence technology will produce enough profit to make the investments worth it.
Some of the winners from that rush into AI drove the market higher on Monday. Chip companies rose, for example, with Nvidia up 2.4% and Broadcom up 3.3%. They were two of the strongest forces pushing the S&P 500 upward.
Kroger climbed 3.9% after the grocer named a former Walmart executive as its new chief executive officer.
Transocean reversed an early loss and rose 5.9% after the offshore drilling company said it would buy Valaris in an all-stock deal valued at $5.8 billion. Valaris leaped 34.3%.
On the losing end was Hims & Hers, which sank 16% after Novo Nordisk filed a lawsuit and alleged Hims & Hers is unlawfully selling versions of its weight-loss treatments. The suit follows a move by the U.S Food and Drug Administration to restrict access to the ingredients needed to copy popular weight-loss medications.
Hims & Hers said, “Big Phama is weaponizing the US judicial system to limit consumer choice” in a post on the X account for the company’s communications team.
Novo Nordisk’s stock that trades in the United States rose 3.6%.
Workday fell 5.1% after the AI platform said its CEO, Carl Eschenbach, is stepping down. Company co-founder Aneel Bhusri is returning as chief executive.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 32.52 points to 6,964.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 20.20 to 50,135.87, and the Nasdaq composite gained 207.46 to 23,238.67.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady ahead of potentially market-moving reports coming later in the week. The U.S. government will offer the latest monthly update on the health of the job market on Wednesday. Friday will bring the latest monthly reading of inflation at the consumer level.
Either report could sway expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates. The Fed has put its cuts to interest rates on hold, but a weakening of the job market could push it to resume more quickly. Too-hot inflation, on the other hand, could keep it on hold for longer.
One of the reasons the U.S. stock market remains close to records is the expectation that the Fed will continue cutting interest rates later this year. Lower rates can give the economy a boost, though they can also worsen inflation.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.20% from 4.22% late Friday.
Other markets that had whipped through more violent moves over recent weeks showed some more strength or stability.
Gold rose 2% to settle at $5,079.40 per ounce. It’s been swinging sharply after roughly doubling in price over 12 months, and it has bounced between $4,500 and nearly $5,600. Silver, whose price has been even wilder, jumped 6.9% Monday.
Bitcoin was hanging just below $71,000 after drifting above the level during the weekend. It had dropped close to $60,000 last week, more than halfway below its record set in October.
In stock markets abroad, indexes jumped across Asia with Japan’s surge. South Korea’s Kospi leaped 4.1%, while stocks rose 1.8% in Hong Kong and 1.4% in Shanghai.
The gains were more modest in Europe, where Germany’s DAX returned 1.2% and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.6%.
AP Videojournalist Mayuko Ono and AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed