Stocks jump as oil tumbles, Nvidia falls amid internal probe

By Caroline Valetkevitch and Dhara Ranasinghe

NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Major stock indexes rallied on Monday as Brent crude oil fell more than 5% after US President Donald Trump said he is unlikely to order fresh attacks on Iran, while shares of Nvidia dropped.

The fall in oil prices helped to ease worries about inflation that have weighed on economies across the globe this year.

Trump on Sunday said that he was highly unlikely to order fresh attacks on Iran as long as talks to end the war progressed, even though both countries reported that shipping had been hit in or near the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures fell $5.75, or 5.85%, to settle at $92.57 a barrel, and prices continued falling after settlement, while US West Texas Intermediate futures dropped $3.98, or 4.38%, to $86.85. 

Efforts to end the Iran war have gathered pace following last week's US midterm elections in which Democrats won control of Congress.

Shares of Nvidia, the second-most valuable company in the world, tumbled 4.2% and closed at their lowest level since April 7, with investors questioning CEO Jensen Huang's future at the AI chipmaker after an internal investigation into whether a foreign intelligence effort had targeted him.

However, the three major US stock indexes finished more than 2% higher, with the S&P 500  rebounding from its biggest weekly drop since April 2025. Last week's selloff was tied to the US midterm elections and worries about increased AI and data center regulation.

"We have seen a very steep and exaggerated selloff in the market," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York. "Whenever the market gets that stretched to the downside, history has shown us usually it's a good buying opportunity in the short term." 

The buying comes from "shorts that have to cover" positions, value investors looking for bargains and from momentum traders, Sarhan said.

An index of semiconductors surged 6.9% after plunging more than 12% last week. Nvidia was the only decliner in the index on Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,104.02 points, or 2.15%, to 52,389.75, the S&P 500 rose 173.08 points, or 2.35%, to 7,549.94 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 673.71 points, or 2.74%, to 25,253.14.

Earnings reports due this week from tech companies including CoreWeave, Applied Materials and Cisco Systems are set to put the profitability of AI ambitions to the test amid the massive costs of the buildout. 

CoreWeave has become a barometer of investor anxiety over AI, and the cost of insuring its debt has spiked into distressed territory recently. 

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 23.48 points, or 2.16%, to 1,108.96.The pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 1.26%, with banks advancing as dealmaking involving Credit Agricole and Banco BPM and strong results from Italy's UniCredit lifted the sector.

US YIELDS GAIN AHEAD OF CPI

US Treasury yields rose ahead of the US October consumer price report on Tuesday, which may sway whether the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates at its December meeting. 

Economists polled by Reuters expect headline consumer inflation to have risen 0.3% last month, with core posting a 0.2% increase.

The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes rose 1.48 basis points to 4.874%.

Bets for a December Fed rate hike rose after Friday's blowout jobs report showed US employers added 165,000 jobs last month. Fed funds futures traders now see an 84% chance of a hike next month.

The dollar eased, with the euro up 0.72% at $1.1223. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.34% to 157.91.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York and Dhara Ranasinghe in London; additional reportingJiaxing Li in Hong Kong and Tom Westbrook in Sydney; Editing by Joe Bavier, Will Dunham and Stephen Coates)