US markets upbeat on Fed, and lifted by AI hopes
Tech shares led the market higher on Monday on another round of artificial intelligence enthusiasm as investors looked ahead to a Federal Reserve meeting. "There's some renewed excitement after a down couple of weeks about the artificial intelligence revolution," said Art Hogan of B Riley Wealth. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 0.8 percent at 16,103. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 percent to 38,790, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.6 percent to 5,149. Investor buzz was high ahead of Nvidia's GTC 2024 gathering, an annual developers' conference for one of the biggest players in AI. CEO Jensen Huang was due to speak later in the day. Google-parent Alphabet also got an AI-related lift, rising 4.4 percent following a Bloomberg report that Apple was in talks to build Google's Gemini artificial intelligence platform into its smartphones. Apple's shares rose 0.6 percent. While markets were focused on AI on Monday, the week's calendar also features Wednesday's Federal Reserve decision, which will update the market on the likelihood of interest rate cuts this year. Given that markets expect three interest rate cuts in 2024, a move by the Fed to signal either more or fewer cuts could prompt a significant investor reaction, Hogan said. Among individual companies, Science Applications International Corp., an information technology company that works extensively with the US government, fell around 10 percent after reporting earnings that lagged estimates. (AFP)