Stocks close higher as the Nasdaq sets a record 27,477 and the 10-year yield rises to 5.31%

Stocks finished higher on Monday and the Nasdaq Composite closed at a record. The Nasdaq rose 286.45 points, or 1.05%, to 27,477.31, passing its previous record from September 22, CNBC reported. The S&P 500 gained 0.66% to 7,773.95 and the Dow added 90.94 points, or 0.18%, to 51,267.90. The Russell 2000 rose about 0.5% to 2,847.14, based on Yahoo Finance closing data.

Tech up, bonds down

AI-linked names led. Meta rose almost 2%, Microsoft more than 1%, and Nvidia and Tesla about 2% each, according to CNBC. SpaceX jumped almost 8% to its highest since mid-June after a Morgan Stanley note, and Elon Musk is again a trillionaire on paper, CNBC said. We covered the options activity in the SpaceX options story. Intel fell about 4% earlier in the session after Musk suggested Taiwan Semiconductor would also work with his Terafab chip venture, while TSMC hit a 52-week high.

The rally came against rising yields. Treasury's official curve has the 10-year at 5.31%, up 3 basis points from Friday, the 30-year at 5.66%, up 3, and the 2-year at 4.84%, up 1. The fed funds rate on our markets board is 3.88%, so the 2-year still prices in further tightening. Investors are looking past it for now: strategist Jay Hatfield told CNBC tech has acted as a kind of safe haven because its growth is less sensitive to interest rates.

The services data

The Institute for Supply Management's services index read 54.9 for September, half a point below August and in line with the consensus of 55. The detail is what matters for rates. The prices index rose 1.4 points to 74, putting its 12-month average at the highest since March 2023, and the employment index rose 2.3 points to 50.1, just above the expansion line. New export orders fell 9.4 points to 46.9, the first contraction in eight months. Rising prices in the largest part of the economy are the kind of reading that keeps "higher for longer" alive.

Oil, gold and deals

CNBC put WTI crude down 1.8% at a settle of $89.43 and Brent down 1.89% at $100.32. Gold futures closed at $4,168.50, up 0.15%, per Yahoo Finance. In deal news, PTC surged on a $205-a-share takeover by Schneider Electric that values its equity above $22 billion and is expected to close by the third quarter of 2027, and RXO jumped after C.H. Robinson agreed to buy it (our earlier story; the terms CNBC quoted today are $17.25 in cash plus 0.0856 C.H. Robinson shares per RXO share).

Ahead

• Wednesday: the Fed's September meeting minutes, after the quarter-point hike.
• Thursday: weekly jobless claims, forecast at 200,000 against 197,000 the week before.
• October 14: September CPI, with the last reading at 3.4% year over year.

Live levels are on our markets page.

Sources: CNBC, U.S. Treasury, Yahoo Finance, Chronicle markets board. Closing levels as of the 4 p.m. ET close. This is market information, not investment advice.