Stocks jump 2.3% for best day since April; Nvidia falls 4%
The S&P 500 rose 2.3% Monday, its best day since April, recovering most of last week's post-midterm loss as oil fell more than 4%, while Nvidia dropped about 4% after its board opened an investigation of CEO Jensen Huang.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
US stocks rallied Monday for a second straight day after last week's post-midterm sell-off. The S&P 500 gained 173.08 points, or 2.35%, to 7,549.94, its biggest one-day gain since April 8, Reuters reported. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,104.02 points, or 2.15%, to 52,389.75, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 673.71 points, or 2.74%, to 25,253.14, its best day since July 30. AP said the S&P 500 recovered most of last week's loss and now sits 3.4% below the record it set last month.
Why it matters
Many 401(k) and index-fund savers own the S&P 500, so its biggest day in seven months shows up in their balances. Cheaper crude also feeds into gasoline prices and inflation, which the Fed is weighing ahead of a possible December rate hike. And Nvidia's slide on a broad up day shows how much risk now rides on one company's leadership.
What’s next
The Labor Department releases October consumer prices on Tuesday and producer prices on Friday. Futures traders still see better than an 80% chance the Federal Reserve raises rates at its December meeting, according to CME FedWatch, because October's strong jobs report gave the Fed room to keep tightening. How long Nvidia's review takes, and what it finds, is still unknown.
More context
How broad it was: All 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose, nine of them by more than 1%, with industrials and consumer discretionary stocks up more than 3% each, Reuters reported. Chipmakers led: the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 6.9% after falling more than 12% last week, with AMD up 13.3% and Broadcom up 8.8%. Wall Street's fear gauge, the VIX, fell below 20.
The exception: Nvidia fell 4.2%, the only decliner in the chip index, and closed at its lowest level since April 7, Reuters reported. Its board said Sunday it had opened an independent investigation into whether CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, and Huang told employees in a memo, "I was unfaithful to my wife. There is no excuse for what I did." The board says it has "no reason to believe" US national security or company secrets were compromised and that it has confidence in Huang.
Oil helped: US crude fell $3.98, or 4.38%, to settle at $86.85 a barrel, its lowest close since Aug. 31, and Brent fell 5.85% to $92.57, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Traders priced in less risk of new fighting after President Trump said new strikes on Iran were "highly unlikely" while talks progress, DTN reported, as Qatar's prime minister met at the White House. Lower oil eases one source of pressure on gasoline and inflation.
Timeline: Tuesday, Nov. 3, Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, and AI stocks sold off on worries about new limits on data centers; the Philadelphia chip index had its worst week since April 2025. Friday, stocks began to bounce. Sunday, Nvidia's board announced its probe of Huang. Monday, the S&P 500 had its best day in seven months even as Nvidia slid.
How analysts framed it: "The AI story is not going away," Ken Polcari of SlateStone Wealth told Reuters. "The Democrats are not going to destroy AI. They can't." Morgan Stanley and UBS said last week that the AI sell-off went too far and that the risk of extreme data center regulation is low even under a Democratic Congress, Reuters reported.
6 listed sources
- AP, US stocks rally and recover most of last week's losses as oil prices swing lower, Nov. 9, 2026
- The Business Times (Reuters), Wall Street jumps as oil slide cools inflation worries; Nvidia slumps, Nov. 9, 2026
- Morningstar (Dow Jones Market Data), NASDAQ Composite rises 2.74% to 25253.14, Nov. 9, 2026
- Morningstar (Dow Jones Market Data), Front month Nymex crude fell 4.38% to settle at $86.85, Nov. 9, 2026
- DTN, WTI tests $85 as U.S.-Iran de-escalation seen, Nov. 9, 2026
- Investing.com (Reuters), Explainer: What we know about Nvidia's probe into CEO Jensen Huang, Nov. 9, 2026
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
Closing index levels are from Reuters (via The Business Times) and Dow Jones Market Data; oil settlement prices are from Dow Jones Market Data and DTN. Reports put Nvidia's closing drop at 4.2% to 4.3%. The hero photo of Jensen Huang is from April 2026, not from this week. The espionage claims about Alice Huang come from a New York Times report that Reuters says it could not independently verify; no U.S. agency has publicly confirmed them.
Like US Brief? You can support it with a tip.