US equities kicked off the holiday-shortened week with gains on Monday, as technology shares continue to rebound from last week’s sell-off and investors awaited key economic data later in the week.
By the European close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 0.53%, the S&P 500 gained 0.59%, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.56%. The energy sector led the market, boosted by climbing oil prices amid escalating tensions between the US and Venezuela.
In tech, Oracle (ORCL) led the pack, rising 2.5%, followed by Tesla (TSLA) up 2.4% and NVIDIA (NVDA) up 1.3%.
Other mega-caps were mixed, Amazon (AMZN) gained 0.2%, Meta (META) climbed 1.9%, while Microsoft (MSFT) fell 0.5%, Apple (AAPL) slipped 0.2%, Alphabet (GOOGL) declined 0.2%, and Broadcom (AVGO) eased 0.4%.
Oracle’s jump comes as the company joins a consortium to oversee TikTok’s US operations. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew confirmed that the US business will be run by a joint venture including Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX.
The arrangement is designed to prevent a ban on the app after legislation required the divestment of TikTok’s US unit for national security reasons. Oracle will audit compliance with agreed National Security Terms, with the deal expected to close on 22 January.
But precious metals have been the main story today, surging to new all-time highs. Gold surged past $4,400, hitting a fresh high near $4,421 and bringing its 2025 gains to roughly 70%. Silver climbed past $69, now up more than 140% this year, leaving nearly all megacap assets in the dust.
Momentum continues to favour bullion as investors price in expectations of Fed rate cuts, reducing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding metals.
Bitcoin briefly topped $89,000 but has struggled to sustain momentum.
Updates
20:25 GMT
All three main indices closed in the green, with the S&P 500 up 0.64%, the Nasdaq Composite up 0.52%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.50%.
20:25 GMT
Oracle Corp is the biggest mover on the day, up 2.99%.
20:28 GMT
Bitcoin has failed to hold $89,000, down 0.65% trading at $88,043.