Dow gains 260 points to post 5th straight daily win

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Dow Jones gained 260 points on Monday to post its fifth consecutive winning day.

The blue-chip index gained 0.67% to finish the session at 39,411, following its best weekly performance since May, with a gain of 1.45% last week.

The S&P 500, on the other hand, was down 16 points, or 0.31%, to 5,447 at the final bell. The index last Thursday climbed briefly above a record high of 5,500 points for the first time in history.

The Nasdaq, meanwhile, plummeted 192 points, or 1.9%, to end the day at 17,496. The tech-heavy index saw its worst daily performance since April.

After the rally in artificial intelligence-focused companies' shares in recent weeks, investors moved away from tech stocks to energy, pharmaceutical and banking firms.

Although Nvidia's market cap surpassed Microsoft's last Tuesday to become the world's most valuable company, it has surrendered that title and the number two spot on Monday to Microsoft and Apple, respectively.

Nvidia shares dove 6.68%, which dragged down the company's market value to $2.91 trillion by market close. Microsoft stocks, on the other hand, were down just 0.47% for the day, while the firm's market cap was at $3.33 trillion.

Apple regained its position as the world's second most valuable publicly traded company with a $3.19 trillion market cap.

Energy majors ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil saw their shares increase 3.44% and 2.97%, respectively; and pharmaceutical firms Moderna and Pfizer were up 2.7% and 2.24% by closing bell.

Oil prices were up more than 1%, with global benchmark Brent crude at $85.20 and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate at $81.69.

Among investment banking firms, Goldman Sachs rose 2.65%, followed by JPMorgan Chase with a gain of 1.31% and Morgan Stanley 0.98%.