* Indexes up: Dow 1.23%, S&P 500 1.27%, Nasdaq 1.38%

* Meta gains 2.4% after report it plans to shrink 20%

jobs

* Dollar Tree ( DLTR ) forecasts soft annual sales

* Nvidia's conference could boost AI confidence

(Updates for market open)

By Johann M Cherian and Utkarsh Hathi

March 16 (Reuters) - The tech-heavy Nasdaq led Wall

Street's main stock indexes higher on Monday, with Meta among

the top gainers after a report said the megacap was prepping for

sweeping AI-related layoffs, even as a raging Middle East

conflict kept risk-taking in check.

Meta gained 2.4% after a Reuters report said it was

planning to shrink its workforce by 20% or more to offset costly

artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for

greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers.

The Instagram parent joins Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Block

, which made similar announcements earlier this year.

AI is expected to stay in the spotlight this week, with chip

giant Nvidia's annual developer conference scheduled

later in the day, while Micron will report results.

Electronics giant Taiwan's Foxconn also issued a

strong quarterly revenue forecast.

Nvidia gained 2.3%, while Micron climbed 6.3% after the

company announcing plans for a second manufacturing facility in

Taiwan. Tesla also rose 2.1% as Elon Musk said the

company's Terafab project to makeAI chips will launch in seven

days.

Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were higher, with tech

leading with a 1.4% rise.

"If we had a very extended conflict (in the Middle East),

there are certain aspects to the AI capex story that could be

impeded if there wasn't enough energy and if there wasn't enough

delivery of the chips and everything that was needed," said

Steve Edwards, senior investment strategist at Morgan Stanley

Wealth Management.

Edwards added that investors were still not fully pricing in

the full impact of the conflict.

Crude prices were hovering near $100 a barrel, as shipments

through the Strait of Hormuz remained largely shut and U.S.

President Donald Trump's push for a coalition to secure safe

passage seemed to be in vain.

The impact of higher energy costs is likely to feature

prominently in central bank meetings globally this week, with

the Federal Reserve also weighing tariff costs and signs of a

weakening jobs market.

The Fed is widely expected toleave rates unchanged at the

end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday, and traders have pushed

back their expectations for an interest rate cut of at least 25

basis points to only after October, according to LSEG-compiled

data, from the previous expectation of July.

At 9:59 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 567.94 points, or 1.23%, to 47,126.41, the S&P 500

gained 83.62 points, or 1.27%, to 6,716.23, and the

Nasdaq Composite gained 305.90 points, or 1.38%,

to 22,411.26.

Wall Street's fear gauge, the CBOE volatility index,

dropped 2.78 points to 24.41, while the rate-sensitive Russell

2000 index gained 1.6%.

US EQUITIES HOLD UP BETTER THAN PEERS

Wall Street's main indexes have been fraught with volatility

since the war began as traders tried to gauge its

repercussions on the economy.

Despite logging declines over the past three weeks, U.S.

equities have fared better than global peers, buoyed by a

rebound in beaten-down technology stocks and as the country is a

net oil exporter.

On the data front, February industrial production increased

0.2%, slightly better than expectations of 0.1%.

Elsewhere, top U.S. and Chinese economic officials were due to

conclude talks in Paris and further talks are expected to be

held between President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Beijing,

sources familiar with the discussions said.

Energy stocks Occidental and ConocoPhillips ( COP )

traded 0.5% lower, while travel stocks Delta and

Norwegian Cruise gained 2.8% and 3%, respectively.

Crypto stocks such as Strategy added 5.3% as

bitcoin rallied over 2.7%.

Discount retailer Dollar Tree ( DLTR ) gained more than 2% in

choppy trading after quarterly results and forecasts.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 5.53-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 3.52-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and two new

lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 27 new

highs and 65 new lows.