Wall Street today: US stocks surge, Tesla jumps 7%, Nvidia up 2%, Meta Platforms climbs 4%

US stocks surged on Monday, led by technology shares on reports of President Donald Trump's administration likely to exclude a set of sector-specific tariffs that are on track to be imposed in April.

As of 11:01 AM Eastern, the S&P 500 jumped 1.6 per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite soared 2 per cent.

At 9:59 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 497.35 points, or 1.19 per cent, to 42,483.81, the S&P 500 rose 83.12 points, or 1.47 per cent, to 5,750.68 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 331.02 points, or 1.87 per cent, to 18,115.90.

A report showed that US business activity grew in March.

S&P Global's flash US Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, rose to 53.5 this month from 51.6 in February.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.32 per cent from 4.25 per cent late on Friday.

Gainers and losers

Among Big Tech shares, Nvidia rose about 2 per cent, Meta Platforms climbed 4 per cent and Amazon.com added 2.8 per cent.

Tesla stock extended gains by 7.3 per cent.

Dun & Bradstreet stock rose 3 per cent after the company entered an agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Clearlake Capital for $7.7 billion.

Lockheed Martin shares fell 2.1 per cent as BofA Global Research downgraded the weapons maker to "neutral" from "buy".

Crypto stocks rose after bitcoin prices jumped 3 per cent. Strategy advanced 5.8 per cent, Coinbase added gained 3.9 per cent and Mara Holdings climbed 7.3 per cent.

Bullion

Gold prices edged lower on Monday as the US dollar rose to an over two-week high.

Spot gold fell 0.4 per cent to $3,010.33 an ounce at 11:12 AM (1512 GMT). US gold futures fell 0.2 per cent to $3,015.50.

Spot silver fell 0.2 per cent to $32.97 an ounce, platinum fell 0.5 per cent to $970.47, and palladium was down 0.9 per cent at $949.25. The US dollar gained 0.2 per cent.

Crude oil

Oil prices advanced 1 per cent on Monday as President Trump said he will impose 25 per cent tariff on countries that buy oil, gas from Venezuela, and on new US sanctions on Iranian exports.

Brent crude futures rose 70 cents, or 1 per cent, to $72.86 a barrel by 11:11 AM ET (1511 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 73 cents, or 1.05 per cent, at $69.