Stocks Hit Records as Gold Dips Below $4K

Stocks rallied to more records Monday ahead of a week packed with potentially market-moving events.

• The S&P 500 rose 83.47 points, or 1.2%, to 6,875.16.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 337.47 points, or 0.7%, to 47,544.59.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 432.59 points, or 1.9%, to 23,637.46.

Stocks also climbed to strong gains in Asia ahead of a meeting on Thursday between the leaders of the United States and China. The hope is that the talks could clear rising tensions between the world's two largest economies, the AP reports. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there's "a framework" for President Trump and Xi Jinping to discuss at their meeting, while Trump said, "We feel good" about working things out with China.

Keurig Dr Pepper climbed 7.6% Monday after reporting profit for the latest quarter that matched analysts' expectations. The company behind Canada Dry and Green Mountain coffee said it benefited from higher prices for K-Cup products, among other things. Some of Wall Street's most influential stocks are set to report their results this week, including Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft on Wednesday, and Amazon and Apple on Thursday. They'll need to deliver big growth and justify big spending underway in artificial-intelligence technology.

Worries have been rising that AI may be in the midst of a bubble, similar to the dot-com bonanza that ended up bursting in 2000. Nvidia's stock is up 42.3% for the year so far, for example, and Qualcomm soared 11.1% Monday after unveiling AI products for data centers Announcements of mergers and buyouts also helped move stocks on Monday. Cadence Bank rose 4.4% after Huntington Bancshares said it would buy the bank with locations across Texas and the South for $7.4 billion in stock. Huntington fell 2.7%. Avidity Biosciences leaped 42.4% after Novartis agreed to buy the biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego for $12 billion, after Avidity spins off its early-stage precision cardiology programs.

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All the optimism flowing through financial markets helped knock down the price of gold. The metal's price has stalled after it nearly touched $4,400 per ounce last week, when it set its latest record. It's dipped back toward $4,000, but it's still up more than 50% for the year so far.