U.S. stocks closed higher on Monday as a rally in megacap technology shares carried the Nasdaq Composite to a record close, even as Treasury yields held near multidecade highs and the dollar pressed toward an 18-month peak.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.05%, or 286.45 points, to finish at 27,477.31 — a new closing record. The S&P 500 added 0.66%, or 51.23 points, to 7,773.95, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.18%, or 90.94 points, to 51,267.90. Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Microsoft led the advance: Nvidia rose 2.1% to a record $238.90, lifting its market capitalization above $5.7 trillion.
The bond market told a tenser story. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to roughly 5.31%–5.347%, its highest since April 2002, while the 30-year yield closed at 5.664%, the highest since May 2002. The two-year yield stood at 4.831%.
"Relative equity market calm amid the bond market's 'perfect storm' is understandable, given accelerating economic growth and the AI boom's rate insensitivity," Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, wrote in an email. She said her team is watching three areas for signs of stress: the breadth of equity gains and earnings revisions, high-yield bond spreads, and dollar strength alongside currency-market volatility.
The dollar advanced as worries over France's finances weighed on the euro. The single currency fell as much as 0.8% to $1.1160, a 17-month low, before recovering to around $1.122; the dollar index hovered near an almost 18-month high. Europe's STOXX 600 index rose 0.4%, but French shares sank to a six-month low. Schneider Electric fell after agreeing to acquire U.S. software firm PTC in a deal aimed at preparing its portfolio for industrial AI — PTC shares surged more than 30%, making it the S&P 500's best performer of the day.
Oil prices retreated after the Group of Seven agreed last week to release 100 million barrels of crude and diesel from emergency stockpiles. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 1.8%, or $1.68, to $89.43 a barrel in New York.
But Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Aramco, warned that the Middle East conflict has depleted global oil inventories and that rebuilding them could take up to two years, even after flows through the Strait of Hormuz normalize.
Latin American markets also climbed, led by Brazilian stocks and a real that rallied more than 4% against the dollar. Right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro outperformed poll predictions in the first round of Brazil's presidential election and advanced to a runoff against leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. MSCI's gauge of global stocks rose 0.7%, capping a day in which equities largely shrugged off the bond market's turbulence.