NEW YORK, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks surged on Monday, propelled by a broad rally in AI equities alongside falling crude oil prices and softening U.S. Treasury yields.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 366.19 points, or 0.71 percent, to 52,048.83. The S&P 500 added 114.2 points, or 1.49 percent, to 7,764.7. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 599.55 points, or 2.26 percent, to 27,122.09.
Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in the green, with communication services and technology leading the gainers by going up 3.86 percent and 2.46 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, energy and utilities led the laggards by losing 2.57 percent and 0.43 percent, respectively.
AI hardware and semiconductor makers spearheaded the session's gains. Intel surged 12.14 percent, while Advanced Micro Devices jumped nearly 10 percent to eclipse 1 trillion U.S. dollars in market capitalization.
Peers also advanced broadly, with Qualcomm climbing 9.29 percent. Across mega-cap equities, all members of the "Magnificent Seven" finished higher, paced by an 11.43 percent jump in Meta Platforms.
Meanwhile, global energy markets retreated sharply. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery lost 4.52 dollars, or 4.51 percent, to settle at 95.78 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for November delivery dropped 3.53 dollars, or 3.4 percent, to settle at 100.34 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The decline in crude prices came despite weekend escalations in the Middle East, where Houthi forces launched drone and missile strikes targeting Saudi Arabia, prompting a U.S. State Department travel warning. However, market sentiment was buoyed by potential diplomatic openings after U.S. President Donald Trump indicated in a media interview that he would consider meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of this week's United Nations General Assembly.
Fixed-income markets saw modest relief alongside the pullback in commodities, with U.S. bond yields dipping from multi-year highs. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note dropped more than 4 basis points to 4.956 percent, slipping back further below the 5 percent threshold, while the 30-year bond yield eased to 5.287 percent.
In other corporate developments, Warner Bros. Discovery soared over 10 percent after Paramount Skydance reached a settlement in a multistate antitrust lawsuit brought by 12 state attorneys general, clearing a major hurdle for its proposed 81-billion-dollar merger.
