US stocks climb as chip, AI shares gain for second day

Key market data points:

• WTI crude oil fell $1.99 to $99.78.
• The US 10-year yield was flat at 4.98%.
• The Australian dollar outperformed, the euro lagged.
• The S&P 500 gained 0.6%.
• The Nasdaq rose 1.3%.
• Gold advanced $44 to $4060.

Chip and AI stocks added to their gains for a second day, supporting a broad advance for US equities. Western Digital led the gainers, climbing 6.8% as the market awaited after-hours earnings from Seagate and Visa, among others. Some positive impetus came after a group of banks announced funding that will allow Anthropic to buy Broadcom chips. This indicates that the funding window remains open ahead of Anthropic's initial public offering next month. Neocloud Nebius also surged 11%, staging a strong rebound after heavy recent selling.

Macroeconomic data were broadly solid, though not exceptional. Corporate commentary largely emphasized resilient consumers, albeit with some strain at the lower end. Business spending has been rising, and travel demand is robust.

Oil prices declined and gold rose on tentative hopes for a Middle East peace deal, although the details were more speculative than concrete. In this conflict, price action has often come before news, so we are awaiting further developments. Israeli exit poll results arrived without major surprises, and the typical coalition negotiations are set to begin.

Wednesday is a pivotal day this week, with the Federal Reserve's policy decision followed by earnings from Microsoft and Alphabet. These events are expected to bring considerable volatility.

Update: Seagate's earnings triggered an initial move to the downside.