AI stocks recover
Wall Street held steadier on Monday and recovered some of its sell-off from last week, as stocks swept up in the artificial-intelligence boom bounced back. Oil prices, meanwhile, rose following fighting between Israel and Iran, but they pared their biggest gains.
The S&P 500 added 0.3%, coming off a drop of 2.6% from Friday that was its worst since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 80 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9%.
Some of the best performers were companies that sell computer chips, memory and other products fuelling the AI boom. They had plunged on Friday amid worries that their prices had shot too high due to AI euphoria.
But prices recovered as trading moved westward through Europe to New York.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 21.99 points to 7,405.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 80.77 to 50,786.01, and the Nasdaq composite gained 220.23 to 25,929.66.
OpenAI files for IPO
After US markets closed on Monday ChatGPT maker OpenAI filed preliminary paperwork that would open the door to it becoming a publicly traded company, the third in a powerhouse trio of artificial intelligence companies racing to Wall Street debuts.
The San Francisco-based company said it had filed confidential paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
"We expect it to leak so we're just announcing it," the company said in a statement. "We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it's a complicated set of trade-offs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best."
OpenAI's move follows its rival Anthropic's June 1 disclosure that it is also moving toward an initial public offering of shares. Both are now following Elon Musk's space company SpaceX, which has started an IPO roadshow pitching itself as an AI-focused space company.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman first publicly floated the possibility of an IPO last year, describing it as the "most likely path" for the company given its size and the need for vast amounts of capital to advance its technology.
OpenAI began in 2015 as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for the common good and is now a company valued at $US852 billion.
Oil rises on Middle East tensions
In the oil market, prices jumped after Israel and Iran launched strikes against each other, threatening to drag the region back into full-scale war. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, briefly topped $US98 overnight.
But it later regressed after Israel and Iran appeared to back away from further strikes. Brent's price settled at $US94.25 per barrel, up 1.2% from Friday.
High oil prices caused by the war with Iran have already sent inflation higher, which increases not only bills for households but also yields in the bond market. High yields worldwide recently have threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments.
Global markets weaken
In stock markets abroad, indexes edged lower in Europe following sharp losses in Asia.
Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 3.8%, while stocks fell 1.7% in Shanghai and 1.2% in Hong Kong.
