US benchmark equity indexes were higher intraday amid a surge in certain chipmaker and technology stocks.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 1.1% at 19,828.1 after midday Monday, while the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 5,976.8. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.1% to 42,781.7. Among sectors, tech and communication services paced the gainers, while real estate and utilities saw the biggest drops.

On Sunday, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision, known as Foxconn, reported that its December revenue jumped 42% year over year.

Micron Technology (MU) shares were up nearly 13% intraday Monday, the best performer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Super Micro Computer (SMCI) was the second-top gainer on the S&P 500, up 11%. MicroStrategy (MSTR), ASML (ASML) and Arm (ARM) were also among the best performers on the Nasdaq. Nvidia (NVDA) was the top gainer on the Dow, up 3.7%.

In company news, United States Steel (X) and Japan's Nippon Steel jointly filed a lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden's decision to block their deal. US Steel's shares were up 5.2%.

Walt Disney (DIS) agreed to merge its Hulu + Live TV business with FuboTV (FUBO) in a deal that will give the media and entertainment a 70% stake in its streaming peer and settle litigation related to the proposed Venu Sports venture. Disney shares rose 0.4%, while fuboTV surged 240%.

Axon Enterprise (AXON) and Palantir Technologies (PLTR) shares dropped 5.9% and 5.2%, respectively, the worst performers on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

The US 10-year yield rose 3.7 basis points to 4.63% intraday, while the two-year rate decreased one basis point to 4.27%.

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook urged monetary policymakers to proceed "more cautiously" with interest rate cuts, given the Fed's 100 basis points of policy easing since September.

"Price increases have cooled notably over the past two and a half years, but, despite this significant progress on disinflation, there is still further to go before reaching our inflation target of 2%," Cook said.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 0.8% to $73.35 a barrel intraday.

Gold was down 0.3% at $2,646.50 per troy ounce, while silver rose 1.5% to $30.50 per ounce.