* Indexes up: Dow 1.04%, S&P 500 1.15%, Nasdaq 1.43%

* Meta gains 2.6% after report it plans to shrink 20%

jobs

* Dollar Tree ( DLTR ) gains more than 6% after signaling tariff

relief

* Nvidia's conference could boost AI confidence

(Updates prices throughout, and analyst comments)

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 preparing

for sweeping AI-related layoffs, while the Middle East conflict

kept risk-taking in check.

Meta gained 2.6% after Reuters reported that the

company plans 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.

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

giant Nvidia's CEO set to reveal new chips and software

at the company's annual developer conference later in the day.

The chipmaker gained 2.6%.

Electronics giant Taiwan's Foxconn, Nvidia's

biggest server maker, issued a strong quarterly revenue forecast

on Monday.

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

leading with a 1.8% rise.

Tesla rose 2.1% as Elon Musk said the company's

Terafab project to make AI chips will launch in seven days.

Meanwhile, chipmaker Micron climbed 6.3% following

the announcement of the company's plans for a second

manufacturing facility in Taiwan.

A modest drop in crude prices after the U.S. said it would

be "fine" with some Iranian, Indian and Chinese ships moving

through the Strait of Hormuz, also offered some relief to the

market.

The impact of higher energy costs is likely to feature

prominently in central bank meetings globally this week. The

Federal Reserve is weighing tariff costs and signs of a

weakening jobs market before taking a call on interest rates in

its upcoming meeting.

"There are a couple of reasons to take any signals from this

meeting with a pinch of salt. First, a swing in oil prices in

either direction could quickly change the Fed's thinking, and

second, markets might slightly discount messages from Chair

(Jerome) Powell, given this will be one of the last of his

term," said James McCann, senior economist at Edward Jones in a

note.

The Fed is widely expected to leave rates unchanged at the

end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday. Traders have pushed

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

basis points beyond October, according to LSEG-compiled data,

compared with their previous expectation of a cut in July.

At 11:45 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 485.19 points, or 1.04%, to 47,040.91, the S&P 500

gained 77.06 points, or 1.15%, to 6,708.70 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 316.56 points, or 1.43%, to 22,420.61.

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

dropped 3.47 points to 23.72, while the rate-sensitive Russell

2000 index gained 1.4%.

US EQUITIES HOLD UP BETTER THAN PEERS

Wall Street's main indexes have been fraught with volatility

since the war began, as traders try 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 a 0.1% rise.

Meanwhile, 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 slightly lower, while travel stocks Delta and

Norwegian Cruise gained 3.4% and 5%, respectively.

Crypto stocks such as Strategy added 4.7% as

bitcoin rallied over 3%.

Discount retailer Dollar Tree ( DLTR ) gained 6.4% after

signaling it could benefit from favorable tariffs in the near

term.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.99-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE, and by a 3.08-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and six new

lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 40 new highs and 96

new lows.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian, Utkarsh Tushar Hathi in

Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Shinjini Ganguli)