ASX set to jump as Wall Street rallies; Nvidia tumbles amid ‘Chinese spy’ probe; Oil falls

The stock market is rallying and recovering more of its big loss from last week as oil prices swing lower. The strength came even though Nvidia, one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks, sank.

The S&P climbed 2.3 per cent and was on track for a second straight gain following a wipeout on worries that Democratic victories in the US midterm elections could lead to a slowdown in the construction of AI data centres. Despite its manic recent swings, the main measure of Wall Street’s strength is sitting only 3.8 per cent below its all-time high set last month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1,043 points, or 2 per cent, in early afternoon trade, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.6 per cent higher. The Australian sharemarket is set to jump, with futures at 4.51am AEDT pointing to a rise of 75 points, or 0.8 per cent, at the open. The ASX edged up 0.9 per cent on Monday. The Australian dollar was stronger at US69.13¢.

Stocks broadly got a lift from a 4.8 per cent drop for the price of a barrel of Brent crude to $US93.59. It’s been coming down from more than $US112 at the start of the month amid uncertainty about what will happen with the war with Iran.

The latest leg lower came after President Donald Trump told CNN over the weekend that a resumption of strikes is “highly unlikely” if the United States sees progress in negotiations, though US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that Iranian demands for ending the war had sometimes been “outrageous and ridiculous.”

Companies with big fuel bills helped lead Wall Street on expectations for costs that may not be as bad as feared. United Airlines flew 5.9 per cent higher, and cruise-operator Carnival rose 3.4 per cent.

Several strong profit reports from big US companies also helped lift the market.

Constellation Energy climbed 9.5 per cent after the power company reported both profit and revenue for the summer that topped analysts’ expectations. It’s been benefiting from deals announced recently to power data centres for Big Tech companies.

Those data centres, and the blame they’re getting from voters for increases in power bills, are coming under increased scrutiny following Democratic victories in statehouses across the country in last week’s election. The worry is that governments could impose restrictions on the industry, which would mean fewer purchases of artificial-intelligence chips, electricity and other products and services around the AI boom.

That built on top of worries already rattling the industry that further construction of AI data centres may slow because of how expensive it’s become to borrow money. Before that, even, critics were saying AI stock prices had shot too high and were in a bubble.

Beyond power companies, other stocks linked to the AI build out also did better on Monday. Advanced Micro Devices rose 11.7 per cent to recover some of its 11 per cent loss from last week. CoreWeave climbed 5.6 per cent after tumbling 15.4 per cent last week.

That’s even though the stock that became the face of the AI boom, Nvidia, fell 4.7 per cent. The chip company said it’s investigating its CEO, Jensen Huang, after he acknowledged an intimate relationship with a business executive who, according to The New York Times, US intelligence determined was gathering information for China.

Nvidia’s board said it has “no reason to believe” that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised but that its inquiry would examine all available information.

Guo Jiakun, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called the allegations “nothing but smears against China.”

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in China amid mostly modest moves. Stocks rose 0.3 per cent in Shanghai and dipped 0.1 per cent in Hong Kong. Indexes were stronger in Japan, where the Nikkei 225 jumped 2.3 per cent, and in Europe, where France’s CAC 40 rose 1.2 per cent.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady following big moves last week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury inched up to 4.88 per cent from 4.86 per cent late Friday.

It remains well below a peak above 5.30 per cent that it reached last month, when it touched its highest level in two decades on worries about high inflation and the US government’s big debt, among other things. The pullback in Treasury yields over the last month has helped rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans to ease. It also gave a boost to prices for stocks and other investments.