Stocks Rise at the Open as Tech Rebounds; Gold Jumps

U.S. stocks pushed higher just after the opening bell Monday, with investors scooping up technology shares as rhetoric around U.S.–China trade eased and haven assets rallied. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 376 points (0.83%) to 45,855.6, the S&P 500 added 77.46 (1.18%) to 6,629.97, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 386.37 (1.74%) to 22,590.8. The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 1.65% to 241.71.

Commodities moved sharply: gold gained 2.43% to $4,097.50, while crude oil added 1.04% to $59.51.

The shift followed a volatile stretch tied to Beijing’s move to tighten rare-earth export restrictions and the response from President Donald Trump that tariffs could be increased 100%. Over the weekend and into Monday morning, the discussion cooled. President Trump said “Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!”

Wedbush Securities called the selloff a chance to add to tech, arguing that the latest flare-up amounts to a “war of words” unlikely to derail the AI investment cycle. The firm expects President Trump and President Xi to meet “in the next few weeks” and said the Nov. 1 tariff threat is likely to be lifted. Wedbush wrote: “We believe tech stocks will be very strong into year-end and could be up another 10%+ into the rest of the year as the next part of this AI Revolution takes hold with upcoming tech earnings season further swaying investors this is a 1996 Moment...and NOT a 1999 Moment.”

The analysts highlighted continued capacity buildouts tied to OpenAI and demand for Nvidia and AMD chips, pointing to second- and third-order beneficiaries across software and cloud infrastructure. Their current favorites include Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, Palantir, Tesla, and Alphabet, with the team urging investors to use bouts of policy-driven volatility to accumulate positions.

While policy risk remains a feature of the tape, early trading suggests investors are leaning back into growth sensitive names as headline risk cools and earnings season approaches. For now, breadth is positive and the major averages are higher in early New York trading.