Investors Appear to Like Comcast's Big Plans

US stocks rose on Monday and recovered some of their losses from a rare losing week.

• The S&P 500 climbed 86.41 points, or 1.2%, to 7440.43, breaking a five-day losing streak.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 306.63 points, or 0.6%, to 52,182.74.
• The Nasdaq composite rallied 522.32 points, or 2.1%, to 25,820.14.

Comcast helped lead the way and jumped 4.5% after saying it will split off its NBCUniversal media business and Sky from its broadband and wireless business, the AP reports. Its stock came into the day with a loss of 17.3% for the year so far.

Several stocks boosted by the artificial-intelligence boom also rose after Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix said they will invest roughly $518 billion in a new chipmaking hub in South Korea, as its president hopes to capitalize on surging AI demand. Applied Materials, whose equipment helps make semiconductors, rallied 10.8% to vault its gain for the year so far above 170%. Nvidia rose 1.3% and was one of the strongest forces lifting the market.

• AI stocks have been on a roller-coaster ride recently after soaring to tremendous heights. They're under pressure because of worries that their profits can't possibly keep pace with the huge gains for their stock prices.
• SpaceX, which owns the xAI business along with rockets, has already become worth more than $2 trillion after its stock made its debut on the Nasdaq earlier this month, with sharp rises and falls along the way. It's become big enough that Nasdaq said Elon Musk's company will join the Nasdaq 100 index before trading begins on July 7, which will force funds tracking the index to buy the stock.
• SpaceX climbed 7.1% on Monday. That helped offset a 5.2% drop for Verizon Communications, which said it's paying $625 million as part of a deal to combine its international wireline connectivity and managed network services business with some of London-based BT Group's subsidiaries in a joint venture.

The gains for the stock market came even though oil prices rose. The September delivery price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.8% to $73.91, pulling slightly above where it was before the war with Iran began. Benchmark US crude for August delivery rose 2.2% to settle at $70.75 per barrel. Following attacks across the Persian Gulf over the weekend, President Trump said Monday on social media that Iran had requested a meeting with US counterparts, though one of Iran's top negotiators said no further talks had been scheduled.