The market’s mood swung decisively toward technology on Monday as investors embraced a fresh wave of AI enthusiasm and appeared to shrug off lingering concerns about a looming government shutdown. By early afternoon trade, the three major indexes were mostly higher after finishing last week with gains of at least 1 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite recorded a new intraday record, up roughly 0.7% following a blockbuster announcement from Advanced Micro Devices.

AMD shares exploded higher, jumping about 27% after the chipmaker said it had struck a large-scale partnership with OpenAI to supply custom AI processors. Market participants interpreted the deal as a validation of AMD’s ability to compete in high-performance cloud compute, a battleground long dominated by rivals. The stock’s move added to a broader rally in AI-exposed names, even as Nvidia, which has been the focal point of the AI hardware boom, traded slightly lower on the session.

“This is a watershed moment for AMD — it gives them a seat at the table for the next generation of large-scale AI infrastructure,” said a Wall Street strategist. “Investors are rewarding the narrative that the AI opportunity is widening beyond a single dominant supplier.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were modestly higher in the session, reflecting a market still driven by a handful of mega-cap technology companies while other sectors showed mixed performance. Energy stocks outperformed at various points recently, reflecting a backdrop of resilient demand and geopolitical price sensitivity, but the day’s leadership clearly belonged to semiconductors and cloud-focused software firms.

Market internals suggested a risk-on tilt. Precious metals and cryptocurrencies climbed alongside equities: gold traded at fresh highs for the year as investors rotated into commodities, citing both inflation hedging and safe-haven demand tied to geopolitical uncertainty. Bitcoin also hit a new record level during the session, drawing renewed attention from institutional allocators and retail investors alike. Together, those moves signaled a broadening appetite for both traditional stores of value and speculative, high-beta assets.

Traders said the market’s relative calm on fiscal policy reflected confidence that any disruption from a possible government shutdown would be short-lived. “The market is focusing on earnings and AI adoption curves rather than Washington noise,” said an equity portfolio manager. “Until we see something material that affects growth or liquidity, investors are inclined to look through episodic political events.”

In corporate governance news that intersected with investor attention, Verizon said former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman would take over as chief executive effective immediately, while outgoing CEO Hans Vestberg will serve as special adviser through Oct. 4, 2026, to oversee a planned integration with Frontier Communications expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. Vestberg will remain on Verizon’s board until the 2026 annual meeting, the company said.

As the week unfolds, market watchers will parse earnings reports, Federal Reserve signals and economic data for clues about whether this AI-driven momentum can expand beyond the handful of beneficiaries and sustain broader market gains. For now, the combination of deal news, record prices in gold and Bitcoin, and a new-era tech winner in AMD has given investors an upbeat start to the week.