Wall Street rises as techs extend gains; Tesla jumps 2.7%, Warner Bros soars 4%, Paramount up 5%

‍US stock indices gained at the start of a holiday-shortened week on Monday as technology stocks continued ‍to ‌rebound from last ​week's selloff.

At 09:36 A.M. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 180.3 ⁠points, or 0.37%, to 48,315.1. The S&P 500 gained 28.87 points, or 0.42%, to 6.863.4, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced ‌96.7 points, or 0.41%, to 23,404.3.

At the open, the ⁠Dow Jones Industrial ⁠Average rose 0.45%, ‌the S&P 500 gained 0.58% ​and the Nasdaq Composite ‍added 0.59%.

Following last week’s benign inflation report, investors’ focus has shifted to key economic data to be released later this ​week.

The significant data includes, the preliminary report of third quarter US GDP (gross domestic product), December consumer confidence numbers ‍and weekly jobless claims.

Among the S&P sectors, eight of the 11 were edging higher. Materials and energy were leading the gains as commodity prices jumped.

Key Stock Movers

Electric vehicle maker Tesla stock jumped 2.7% to an all-time high after CEO Elon Musk's 2018 pay package was restored by the Delaware Supreme Court.

Shares of the chipmaker Nvidia added 1.2% after Reuters reported that the company has told Chinese clients it aims to start shipping its second-most powerful AI chips to China before the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February.

Micron Technology extended last week’s gains rising ⁠2%.

Warner Bros Discovery stock soared 4% after Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison agreed on a personal guarantee of $40.4 billion of the equity financing for Paramount Skydance's offer to acquire the firm.

Following this development, Paramount stock rose 5.1%.

Shares of Clearwater Analytics Holdings rallied 8.4% after a group of private equity companies led by Permira and Warburg Pincus agreed on a deal to buy the investment and accounting software maker for about $8.4 billion.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase rose 1%, Uber surged 3.3% and Lyft advanced 5%.

Bullion Market

Gold prices rose to a record high on Monday, bolstered by strong safe-haven demand as US-Venezuela tensions escalate.

By 09:43 A.M. ET (1443 GMT), spot gold was up nearly 2% at $4,421.15 per ounce after ⁠hitting a high of $4,428.92 earlier in the session. US gold futures for February ⁠delivery added 1.6% to $4,455.7 per ounce.

Declining US dollar also boosted gold prices as it eased against ⁠a basket of other major currencies.

Among other metals, spot silver ‌was up 2.7% at $68.93 after hitting a fesh high of $69.44. Silver prices are up 138% so far this year. Platinum jumped 5.3% to $2,06.8 and palladium climbed 3.2% to $1,767.68.

Crude Oil Market

Crude oil prices rallied on Monday as the global energy market reacted to a significant escalation in the US naval activity off the coast of Venezuela and continued volatility in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

By 1316 GMT, Brent crude futures gained $1.31, or 2.17%, to $61.78 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude rose by $1.25, or 2.2%, to $57.77.

The primary driver of Monday's price action was the rapid expansion of the US naval blockade targeting Venezuela. Over the weekend, the US Coast Guard, supported by the Department of Defense, intercepted another oil tanker.

Venezuelan crude accounts for ⁠about 1% of global supply.