Wall Street staged a broad recovery Monday from last week's technology rout, powered by a collapse in crude prices — and it did so while its largest company fell hard on a governance scandal.
As of 3:00 p.m. Eastern, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1,225.10 points, or 2.39%, at 52,510.83, according to Yahoo Finance data. The S&P 500 gained 185.10 points, or 2.51%, to 7,561.96, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 695.22 points, or 2.83%, to 25,274.65. The small-cap Russell 2000 outpaced them all, climbing 3.35%. Because these are intraday levels rather than settled closes, final figures may differ.
Oil Did the Heavy Lifting
The rally's proximate cause was energy. Brent crude traded at $91.61 a barrel on Trading Economics' quote page Monday, down $6.71, or 6.83%, on the day — its weakest level since Aug. 31 and an extension of the prior week's 13.3% slide. December WTI futures fell 5.75% to roughly $85.51, per Yahoo Finance.
Traders were pricing in a diplomatic resolution to the Middle East conflict after President Trump indicated that extensive strikes on Iran were unlikely if a strong deal could be reached. Cheaper energy cuts directly into the operating cost of the data centers underwriting the AI trade, which is why a crude selloff registered as an equity rally.
An 18-Point Spread in Semiconductors
The semiconductor tape split in two. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 6.8% and Broadcom gained about 9.2%, TipRanks reported. AMD surged $59.83, or 13.33%.
Nvidia went the other way, falling $9.62 to $177.03, a 5.15% decline, after dropping as much as 8% earlier in the session. On Nov. 8, the company's board announced an independent investigation into reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang "has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort." A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, will oversee the review.
"The Board prioritizes U.S. national and economic security, which is paramount to the interests of NVIDIA and its shareholders," the statement said, adding that "Jensen fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it" and that the board "has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team." News reports, including from NBC News, have tied the inquiry to Huang's relationship with an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed whom U.S. officials allege was recruited by China. The board said it has no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised.
Brokerages Call the Selloff Overdone
Research desks spent Monday arguing last week's damage was sentiment, not fundamentals. Morgan Stanley recommended "buying the drop," reasoning that regulatory friction "has the potential to elongate the AI capex cycle, which has positives including: a smoother supply-demand rebalancing across the data center supply chain, improved credit outlook, and higher lease rates for compute." Portfolio manager Andrew Slimmon said investors had overreacted to the midterm results. UBS said markets had turned too negative on AI political and credit risk, projecting roughly $1.4 trillion of AI infrastructure spending in 2027. HSBC used the correction to add equity exposure.
Not everyone declared it over. "Global markets are starting the week on a more positive note," said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, crediting "renewed buying in semiconductor stocks" — while noting that concerns over "AI profitability, elevated borrowing costs and potential regulatory changes following the US midterms" remain unresolved.
Bitcoin did not join the risk rally, slipping 1.21% to $74,731. October CPI lands Tuesday.
Sources: Yahoo Finance (market data and live blog, Nov. 9, 2026); NVIDIA Board of Directors statement (Nov. 8, 2026); Trading Economics (Brent crude quote page); TipRanks; Reuters, via AOL; Capital.com; NBC News.