US STOCKS-Tech lifts Wall St higher as markets weigh commodity selloff, earnings

By Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit

Feb 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes climbed on Monday as a rally in memory chipmakers and other heavyweight stocks powered a rebound from early losses triggered by a sharp decline in precious metal prices.

The S&P 500 snapped three straight daily losses, shaking off a drop earlier in the session when gold and silver's extended selloff forced investors to unwind leveraged bets.

Memory-related stocks such as Sandisk SNDK.O soared 16%, while Seagate STX.O gained 5.8%. Western Digital WDC.O rose 7.8%, extending strong momentum from January and late-2025.

Market participants said the focus was pivoting toward positioning for what is expected to be the season's busiest earnings week and important economic indicators.

U.S. factory activity grew for the first time in a year in January, PMI data showed.

"We're heading into a new week with plenty of catalysts in front of us and we're seeing some stabilization in markets. In the near term, we've priced in enough of some of the concerns we've had," said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth.

The CBOE volatility VIX index .VIX dropped 1.27 points to 16.17, after touching a near two-week high earlier in the session.

At 12:09 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 490.04 points, or 1%, to 49,382.51. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 45.73 points, or 0.66%, to 6,984.82, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC climbed 175.21 points, or 0.75%, to 23,637.02.

All three indexes had posted gains in January despite bouts of selloff caused by geopolitical tensions. The S&P breached the 7,000-mark for the first time on resilient earnings and bets on AI-linked growth.

Tech mega-caps powered the Nasdaq on Monday, with Apple AAPL.O and Amazon AMZN.O climbing more than 2% each.

Microsoft MSFT.O, however, was down 1.1%, extending its steepest weekly drop since March 2020 on Friday after posting disappointing cloud revenue.

The selloff indicates investors' patience wearing thin with Big Tech's staggering capital spending plans, increasing pressure on companies to turn those billions into real, measurable returns to justify high valuations.

Disney DIS.N fell 5.3% despite posting first-quarter earnings above Wall Street expectations.

Alphabet GOOGL.O, Amazon AMZN.O and AMD AMD.O are among the 128 S&P 500 companies due to report this week.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index .RUT climbed more than 1%, bouncing from a near one-month low.

Oracle ORCL.N gained 2.4% after Wall Street analysts said its $50 billion fundraising plan allays worries over its ability to finance a massive data-center expansion.

The S&P 500 Energy Sector index .SPNY dropped 1.4% as oil prices slid after U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran was "seriously talking" with Washington, comments that hinted at de-escalation and eased fears of supply disruptions.

Lower energy prices boosted airline shares. United UAL.O rose 5.5%, while JetBlue JBLU.O jumped about 6%. Delta DAL.N and Southwest LUV.N rose 4.9% and 3.5%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives took up legislation to lift a partial government shutdown entered on Saturday, with a final vote expected on Tuesday.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the closely watched employment report for January would not be released on Friday due to the partial shutdown.