04:51 PM EST, 12/22/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes rose in a broad-based rally on Monday, with materials and financials leading sectors amid thin trading volumes.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.5% to 23,429.1, with the S&P 500 up 0.6% to 6,878.2 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.5% higher at 48,377.4. The equity market will close early on Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET and will remain closed on Thursday for the Christmas holiday.

Energy was also among the top gainers, while the consumer staples sector was the sole decliner.

Nasdaq's trading volume was 6.27 billion shares, compared with a daily average of about 9.54 billion, according to data compiled by Yahoo Finance. The corresponding figures for the S&P 500 were 2.58 billion versus 5.42 billion. For the Dow, the figures were 427.1 million versus 526.6 million.

Gold futures surged 2.1% to $4,478.81 intraday, reaching an intraday all-time high of $4,479.30, as per data compiled by CNBC. Silver futures soared 2.1% to $68.91, also touching a new record of $69.53 earlier in the session.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures jumped 2.4% to $57.88 a barrel as the US intercepted an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, Reuters said in a Monday report.

"Oil prices have thus been supported by this geopolitical news alongside the simmering Russia-Ukraine tensions in the background in an otherwise very bearish market fundamentally," Reuters quoted June Goh, senior oil market analyst at Sparta Commodities, as saying.

In economic news, the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank's monthly National Activity Index improved to minus 0.21 in September from minus 0.31 in August, below an expected reading of minus 0.17 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. The three-month moving average fell to minus 0.21 from minus 0.18 in August.

US Treasury yields rose, with the 10-year yield up 1.4 basis points to 4.17% and the two-year higher by two basis points to 3.51%.

Amid the holiday season, spirits were lifted by strong results reported last week by chipmaker Micron Technology ( MU ) , which may have calmed fears of an AI bubble in the tech sector. Shares of Micron jumped 4%, the Nasdaq's leader.

In company news, Walmart ( WMT ) , Target ( TGT ) , and Amazon.com's ( AMZN ) Whole Foods Market are set to be added as defendants in lawsuits against baby formula maker ByHeart over a potentially contaminated product, Bloomberg reported Monday. Shares of Walmart ( WMT ) retreated 1.5%, among the laggards on the Dow, while Target ( TGT ) was the worst performer on the S&P 500, down 2.9%.

Dominion Energy ( D ) slumped 3.7%, one of the steepest decliners on the S&P 500, after the Trump administration paused the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, as well as four other wind farms on the East Coast.