U.S. markets settle higher led by gains in technology shares

U.S. markets settled higher on Monday led by technology shares as Anthropic’s initial public offering (IPO) filing renewed investor interest in artificial intelligence. Buying interest has also been generated in reaction to a significant pullback by the price of crude oil, with U.S. crude oil futures tumbling by more than 1 percent. The pullback by crude oil prices came amid news Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman has travelled to Tehran to meet with senior Iranian officials and discuss efforts to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East. Meanwhile, traders were looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday, with the central bank widely expected to leave rates unchanged. 

On the sectoral front, networking stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, with the NYSE Arca Networking Index spiking by 2.9 percent. Substantial strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.8 percent surge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Computer hardware, software and oil service stocks also saw notable strength, while brokerage stocks showed a significant move to the downside.

Nasdaq increased by 214.03 points or 0.83 percent to 26,169.38, S&P 500 rose by 53.09 points or 0.70 percent to 7,676.77 and Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by by 146.42 points or 0.28 percent to 52,361.58.