AI stocks lead a rebound on Wall Street as European markets drop following protests

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry bounced back on Wall Street Monday and recovered some of their steep losses from last week, but the rest of the market and stocks worldwide were shaky.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, coming off its worst week since June, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.1% because it’s full of technology stocks. The majority of U.S. stocks outside of AI and tech fell, though, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average swung between losses and gains before finishing with a drop of 36 points, or 0.1%.

In Europe, the losses were sharper, and indexes slid more than 1% following violent protests that could ultimately force the French government to increase its spending to ease voters’ anger. That in turn could put even more pressure on bond markets, and yields cranked higher worldwide.

Even with all the cross currents flowing through financial markets, AI stocks stood out, as they have for most of the past few years. A frenzy in spending for AI technology has forced them to the forefront of the market, sending them to record prices and driving indexes higher. Last week, AI stocks grabbed the spotlight after tumbling on worries about how expensive it has become to borrow money, which could threaten the boom.

Much of the spending on AI chips and data centers has come from borrowed money, and Treasury yields in the bond market have recently hit their highest levels in years or even decades. That has raised the cost of borrowing money for everyone.

Nvidia added 1.4% Monday and was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. Because it’s the largest stock on Wall Street by total market value, a 1% move for its stock has more effect on the index than any other’s.

SpaceX, which controls the xAI business, rose 1.3% to $147.96. Its founder, Elon Musk, pledged on Monday to give one share of SpaceX to “every kid in America” next year. The offer came after Anthropic said over the weekend that it will commit 5% of the shares in its highly anticipated initial public offering of stock to a new “public benefit” fund.

The moves for AI stocks were still choppy, though. Consider CoreWeave, a company that’s borrowed to buy AI chips that it rents out to customers over the cloud and has been at the center of the market’s swings. After initially jumping more than 7% in the morning, it flipped to a loss of 3.5% before finishing with a dip of 0.4%. That followed its loss last week of 25.2%.

The swings came ahead of profit reports coming later in the week that could offer more details about the strength of AI-related spending.

Meta Platforms, which is pushing its Muse AI agent, will report its latest quarterly results on Wednesday. Lam Research, which supplies equipment and services for the making of semiconductors, will also talk about how its business is doing on Wednesday.

Expectations are high across the board for U.S. companies’ profits from the summer. Analysts are forecasting overall growth of 29% for companies in the S&P 500 from the prior summer, according to FactSet. Those high expectations are what has allowed the U.S. stock market to run to records despite worries about war, high inflation and pressure from the bond market.

Cleveland-Cliffs rallied 16.3% after reporting a bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Lourenco Goncalves said it was the strongest quarter for the company in three years and that the outlook for profit in 2027 “has improved materially” from three months ago.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 31.29 points to 7,690.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 36.38 to 51,966.03, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 290.85 to 26,430.89.

In stock markets abroad, rebounds for AI stocks helped South Korea’s Kospi jump 1.8% to recover some of its 14.5% drop from last week. It is dominated by two huge players in the AI industry, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which has made it much jumpier than other markets.

In Europe, bond yields climbed following the French protests against the rising cost of living and poor school conditions. The protests could put pressure on governments to boost their spending to offer help, but that would likely only add to their already big piles of debt.

Yields rose for French bonds on worries about the government’s already strained budget and climbed much more than yields for German government bonds, which investors have historically seen as a safer bet.

In the U.S. bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 5.14% from 5.09% late Friday. It topped 5.30% earlier this month and touched its highest level since 2002.

Oil prices remained shaky. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, swung between $107 and $110 through the day before settling at $109.55, down 0.3%.

It has been yo-yoing between $97 and $110 this month on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the energy industry to return to normal.

AP Business Writer Chan Ho-him contributed to this report.

FILE - A general view of the New York Stock Exchange is seen, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader talks on the phone at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Fifth-generation Kansas farmer Glenn Brunkow describes this time of year as “go time,” when farmers are combining fields, hauling crops to town and moving livestock from summer pastures to their winter homes.

But this harvest season, they’re doing it with diesel prices more than $2.50 per gallon higher than a year ago, adding to financial pressures from rising costs, unpredictable markets and shrinking profits.

“It seems like it’s coming at us from all directions,” said Brunkow, president of the Kansas Farm Bureau.

The economic strain is becoming a growing political concern for Republicans in states they have long dominated. President Donald Trump is heading to Kansas on Monday and Iowa later in the week, the latest in a series of stops where he's trying to energize his base in the final weeks before the midterm elections.

The visits come as Republicans pour money into Senate races in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa amid concerns about voter enthusiasm. The anxiety may be especially notable in Kansas — a state Trump won by 16 percentage points against Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 — as Republican Sen. Roger Marshall faces a tough challenge from Democrat Adam Hamilton. Democrats have not won a Senate election in Kansas in 94 years.

Hamilton, the founder of the nation’s largest United Methodist church, has attracted Republican support in his Senate bid, including endorsements from two former GOP governors. In a video statement ahead of Trump’s visit, Hamilton said it was “an honor” to welcome a sitting president to Kansas.

"I want Kansans to know that if you voted for the president, you also have a place in my campaign,” he added.

Brunkow, whose organization endorsed Marshall, said he’s been asked many times whether the economic frustrations could drive Republican farmers to vote for Democrats.

“I don’t think it necessarily does that,” Brunkow said. “But I think it dampens the enthusiasm for agriculture producers to get to the polls.”

Don Hineman, a western Kansas rancher and former Republican state House majority leader, said he’s seeing growing frustration among GOP voters beyond just farmers, including some who have supported Trump in multiple elections.

He said farmers understand that Trump’s tariffs have hurt their businesses and are upset over the ongoing war with Iran. Immigration has also become a source of concern, particularly after recent immigration raids in western Kansas that resulted in the detention of more than 100 people.

“We need a secure border — we can all agree on that,” Hineman said. “But we also need workable immigration policy that provides the workforce that the United States has always depended on and will always continue to need.”

Hineman said the traditional Republican argument in Kansas — that electing Democrats would empower the party’s liberal wing — is losing its effectiveness with some voters, including himself.

“I am tired of being persuaded by charges that the boogeyman is going to get us,” he said. “I am so fed up with the Republican Party and their willingness to play sycophant to our current commander in chief that I’m willing to consider alternatives.”

Debbie Geneva, 61, of Nortonville, Kansas, said she was impressed by Hamilton after he visited a local market to meet people, something she hasn't seen Marshall do. She's never voted for a Democrat, she said, but remains undecided about the Senate race.

“I’ve never voted for a Democrat in my entire life, so that’s a little scary for me to be undecided,” said Geneva. "I told one of my friends that, and they can’t believe it, but that’s just the way I feel right now.”

Geneva said rising costs for healthcare and everyday expenses have added to her frustrations.

“And then of course the trade agreements," she added. “The Republicans haven’t done the Midwest any favors with that.”

Farmers have spent months feeling the squeeze as costs for inputs like diesel, fertilizer and seed have soared due to refinery constraints and supply disruptions tied to the Iran war.

Diesel averaged $6.30 per gallon nationwide on Friday, more than 70% higher than a year ago, according to motor club AAA. The surge has been especially painful during harvest season, when farmers depend heavily on fuel to operate machinery and transport crops.

“This is a time of year when we use a lot of fuel, and there just isn’t much we can do,” Brunkow said. “The margins are tight, and anything that cuts into that margin really hurts.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that net farm income will decline by 2.6% this year as production expenses rise by 4.5%. Fuel and oil expenses alone are expected to jump nearly 30%, according to the agency’s September forecast.

The Trump administration has attempted to ease some of those burdens. Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to ease limits on the tax-free use of red-dyed diesel, a decision he said would save “millions” for farmers. That came after a $12 billion aid package for farmers announced by the Trump administration in December.

But those efforts have not erased frustrations among some farmers who expected their financial outlook to improve under Trump.

Brunkow said many farmers “thought it would be better” under Trump, although he thinks most would still consider him the better choice in the 2024 election.

“He’s made some unforced errors," said Brunkow. “Miscalculations, bad advice, that had unintended consequences.”

Trump will travel on Thursday to Iowa, where Republicans are defending competitive races for governor and Senate. The state, which Trump has carried in three consecutive presidential elections, is another agricultural stronghold where economic frustrations have become part of the political debate.

In Nebraska, Senate Republicans have poured nearly $15 million into a race between GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts and independent candidate Dan Osborn, an unprecedented amount for a state Trump won by 20 percentage points in 2024.

David McIntosh, president of the influential Club for Growth, said his group has kept a close eye on the heavy agriculture states since summer and acknowledged concerns about a drop-off in enthusiasm. His group is spending millions of dollars for GOP candidates in Kansas, Nebraska and elsewhere.

“Farmers are squeezed between higher input prices and less of an international market because of retaliatory tariffs,” McIntosh said. “The economic environment has not been good.”

Democrats, meanwhile, see an opportunity in the economic frustrations, even in states where they have struggled to win statewide elections.

Former Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat who lost reelection in 2024, said there is “no doubt” that Democrats will perform better than expected in agricultural states.

“These guys got to pay bills at the end of the month, and for a number of months now it’s been hard to do,” said Tester. “This is way beyond politics.”

A third-generation farmer, Tester said he first began farming in 1978 and witnessed the farm crisis of the 1980s, when “a fair number of my neighbors left town.”

“We’re setting up for the same kind of situation,” said Tester. “The economics in family farm production agriculture right now are probably worse right now than they were in the 1980s.”

Cappelletti reported from Washington. Associated Press journalist Nick Ingram contributed to this report.

Adam Hamilton, right, the Democratic Senate nominee in Kansas, answers questions posed by Bob Ross, left, the president of the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce, during a Meet the Candidate event sponsored by the chamber, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Adam Hamilton, right, Democratic Senate nominee in Kansas, speaks with Curtis Sneden, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority, at a Meet the Candidate event sponsored by the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at Dalton Municipal Airport, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in Dalton Ga. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)