Wall Street Starts the Week Steady as Chipmakers Slip on Beijing’s New Rules

Trading on Wall Street got off to a quiet start Monday, with the major indexes showing minimal movement as strength in energy and banking stocks balanced out weakness in technology. In the opening hour, the S&P 500 hovered unchanged, the Dow inched up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq dipped 0.2%.

The technology sector was in the spotlight after Beijing unveiled a new requirement that foreign semiconductor companies share a portion of their China-based revenues with the government. The policy directly affects major U.S. chipmakers like Nvidia, AMD, and Qualcomm, sparking concerns about slimmer profit margins and potential roadblocks to growth in one of their most important markets. Nvidia and AMD shares fell more than 2% each, while Qualcomm was down about 1.5%.
Energy stocks moved in the opposite direction, benefiting from crude oil’s stability around $84 a barrel. Giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron advanced roughly 1% each, aided by optimism over U.S. liquefied natural gas exports, particularly following Alaska’s fast-tracked LNG project approval.
Banks joined the list of gainers as Treasury yields edged higher, with the 10-year yield climbing to 4.23%. That uptick reflected traders positioning themselves ahead of the midweek release of the Consumer Price Index—a key data point for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook.
Market watchers described the morning session as “cautiously balanced,” with many investors preferring to keep risk exposure light until more clarity emerges from economic reports and global trade developments.