Oct 19 (Reuters) - The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite gained on Monday, as AI-related stocks rebounded from last week's sharp selloff, with easing oil prices providing additional support ahead of key earnings reports this week.
Both indexes had posted their biggest weekly drop since late June on Friday, as concerns that higher interest rates could curb investments in AI infrastructure weighed on technology stocks, particularly data center operators.
The selloff reflected mounting investor unease over how the costly AI build-out will be financed, a question that has increasingly pressured companies underpinning the US bull market, which recently marked its fourth anniversary.
The blue-chip Dow, however, was weighed down by modest declines in JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab, Sherwin-Williams (SHW.N), and Visa (V.N), opens new tab. The session coincided with the 39th anniversary of Black Monday, the 1987 crash when the Dow Jones Industrial Average index had tumbled 22.6%.
Chipmakers Broadcom (AVGO.O), climbed 2.2% and Micron (MU.O), jumped 4.3% on Monday. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (.SOX), rose 2.5%, putting it on course to end an eight-day losing streak, its longest run of declines since October 2008.
Amazon.com (AMZN.O), was up 2.3% after Morgan Stanley named the e-commerce and cloud computing firm as its "top pick".
Goldman Sachs upgraded CoreWeave (CRWV.O), to "buy" from "neutral", saying the recent selloff offers a buying opportunity. Shares of the data center firm were last up 0.2%, after plunging more than 25% last week on worries over its $50 billion debt load.
"The tech sell off last week because of the rise in interest rates and the problems with CoreWeave sending shockwaves through the market. I don't think that is over just yet," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.
"Certainly, corporate reports are all going to be important this week, but investors will be evaluating which companies are most vulnerable."
Meta (META.O), is expected to beat Wall Street expectations when it reports results on Wednesday. Elon Musk-led Tesla's (TSLA.O), earnings are also due that day, while SpaceX (SPCX.O), is scheduled to report on Tuesday.
At 09:52 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), fell 102.02 points, or 0.20%, to 51,900.39. The S&P 500 (.SPX), gained 34.27 points, or 0.45%, to 7,693.71, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), rose 249.13 points, or 0.95%, to 26,389.16.
Most S&P 500 constituents posted losses but the heavy-weight technology sector (.SPLRCT), led gains with a 1.2% increase.
Brent futures were last down 1.3% at around $108 a barrel, following US President Donald Trump's decision to waive some sanctions on Russia.
Intel (INTC.O), shares rose 5.1% after J.P.Morgan upgraded the stock to "neutral" from "underweight."
Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF.N), surged 8.7% after the steelmaker surpassed analysts' estimate for third-quarter profit.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by 1.18-to-1 on the NYSE, while advancing issues outnumbered decliners by the same ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted eight new 52-week highs and two new lows, and the Nasdaq Composite recorded 12 new highs and 120 new lows.
Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar
