Live Nasdaq Composite: Tech Holds Its Ground as M&A and AI Boom Drown Out Oil Noise

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The Nasdaq Composite is threading a needle Monday morning, absorbing a crude oil flare-up while drawing support from a strong earnings cycle and a string of deal headlines. Tech stocks are boosting the index slightly higher on the day after last week’s record-setting performance. In what is shaping up to be a potential Merger Monday, GameStop (NYSE: GME) has offered to buy eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) in an unsolicited offering, sending shares of the auction platform higher by nearly 5% on the day.

Oil markets swung sharply after conflicting reports emerged over an alleged Iranian strike on a U.S. warship near Jask island. Iran’s Navy claimed it had turned American vessels away from the area, though U.S. Central Command pushed back, stating no naval ships had been hit. WTI futures vaulted above $105 a barrel, a 3% intraday surge, while Brent crossed $111 before retreating.

The combined capital expenditure of Amazon,  Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft is forecast to nearly double year-over-year, climbing 98% to an all-time high of $715 billion in 2026.
Amazon is leading the pack, with management guiding toward a record $200 billion in capex for 2026. Google and Microsoft are each targeting $190 billion, while Meta rounded out the group by nudging its own forecast $10 billion higher to a range of $125–$145 billion. Every one of these companies is on pace to spend as much, or more, in 2026 alone as it did across the prior two years combined.

Here’s a look at where things stand as of morning trading:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 49,239 Down 0.52%
Nasdaq Composite: 25,141 Up 0.12%
S&P 500: 7,226 Down 0.05%

Market Movers

The index’s resilience traces back largely to Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), whose shares have surged roughly 30% over the past month. The catalyst: a blowout Q1 print featuring $109.9 billion in revenue and 63% growth in Google Cloud, which is now backed by a backlog exceeding $460 billion. Citizens Research raised its price target to a new Street-high of $515, up from $385, calling Alphabet the most straightforward beneficiary of the AI buildout.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is providing similar ballast. AWS expanded 28% in the quarter, and the company moved to extend its logistics footprint with the launch of Amazon Supply Chain Services, opening the platform to third-party clients including P&G, 3M, and American Eagle.

Countering that momentum, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) slipped nearly 1% after HSBC downgraded the chipmaker to “Hold” from “Buy,” setting a $340 price target. The firm’s concern centers on constrained 2026 semiconductor capacity, which it argues caps near-term earnings upside.

GameStop (NYSE: GME) is drawing attention after lobbing an unsolicited $125-per-share cash-and-stock proposal at eBay, which would peg the e-commerce platform’s value at around $56 billion. eBay’s shares climbed to approximately $118 on the news — a notable discount to the offer price that reflects lingering skepticism over whether the deal closes.